9 Crimes
by ForeverInVienna
Summary: Vienna's love for the wrong man haunts her throughout her new life in the rise of the new pureblood society even perhaps as well as the man himself. Rated M for strong language and suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN:**_** A HUGE thanks to my beta, Ducky, aka my roomie (so don't try searching for 'Ducky' on here. That's not her, lol), for betaing this for me...and reading all bits of drabble and giggling over them with me. She encouraged me to publish this one so, here we are. Come at me, wolves-lemme know what you think. Ideas, critiques, and the like are most welcome. Here's the one & only mention that I'm not J.K. Rowling. Harry&Co. isn't mine. But really, why is that necessary to mention? This is fanfiction for heaven's sake!  
Enjoy the first chapter. :)  
-C  
**

**11Jul12 - I haven't forgotten this story, I promise! Chapter two to be posted soon. I'm going to try for a regular update schedule...TBA. Real life has been awfully intrusive lately. Blah! PS thank you for the faves, story alerts, and such. SO MUCH appreciation on my first fanfic (: It made me happy.**

_**9 Crimes**_

**August, 2008**

Vienna raised an arched brow towards the man speaking to her, or as it were, talking _at_ her. What he was saying wasn't really sticking in her memory, for that matter she wasn't listening. Her attention was focused at the other end of the room to a man with what she guessed was shoulder length black hair; it was difficult to tell, as his hair was pulled back at the nape of his neck and he was looking her way, though not _at_ her.

Her breath caught.

"…so I said that we ought to take 'im out an—are you even listenin' V?" the man leaned over and waved a hand in front of the woman's face. "V?" He followed her gaze slowly, trying to find the subject that had her so entranced. However, before he could get a good lock on her target, she shook herself free of her fog and interrupted her companion's concentration.

"Sorry, Rafe. I was just thinking about home. I miss my brother…y'know?"

He gave her a dark look, highlighted by his dark features set against his pale complexion. His voice dropped to a dangerously low octave and quiet volume, "V, he _betrayed_ the cause. He was going to turn us in—he _had_ to be-"

A dark look of her own ended the man's brief tirade.

"Vienna," he reached for her hand and she let him hold it, though it took all her strength not to rip herself from his grasp. "It wasn't what I _wanted_."

_Liar_. She smiled tightly, "I know." _Liar._ "I've long put it behind me," _Liar._ "I just miss him sometimes. Isn't that okay?" Vienna plastered the most sincere look she could on her face as a look of false acceptance crossed Rafael's face.

As she thought about how much she would enjoy extinguishing the dark light shining in this man's eyes, she let her gaze drift back to the other side of the room where the ever-curious man stood watching her a moment longer before taking off and disappearing out of the pub.

_Again._

* * *

**July, 1995**

Vienna looked down at her dress robes, praying they would be good enough for an interview with Headmaster Dumbledore. She heard they were in need of a new DADA professor and, though young, she was ready to jump at the chance. Surely her alma mater wouldn't be too concerned with such a young professor—twenty three wasn't too bad. It wasn't her fault she was quick to get through classes, after all.

She posed in front of her full-length mirror; tight enough to show she was a woman but loose enough to show she was a lady. Her hair was coiffed into a neat bun, her makeup a bit dark but she figured no one would mind. She had heard rumors of a Sybil Trelawney being hired. Apparently, there was no accounting for _her_ personal tastes. Besides, if anything it made her look a bit vampiric—her grey eyes stood out in contrast to the rest of her face. Maybe she'd scare the students into thinking Snape bit her.

_Hah!_

There'd been rumors for ages—since she'd been a student—that Snape was a vampire. Misunderstood old git when it came right down to it, but he really could be a bit of a bat. _Dear Sev-_

"Drat!" Having nearly reflected too long, she rushed to her floo without a thought and grabbed a bit of powder, announced her destination, and stepped through a bit too quickly—straight into the 'misunderstood old git' himself.

"Miss _Trotter_?" He drawled in a bored tone, yanking the hands back which he had momentarily placed on her shoulders for support. "As _punctual_ as ever, I see."

Vienna nodded blankly in acknowledgement. "I'm here to see Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Obviously," he looked her over briefly before turning away. "The position has been filled, Trotter. Go back to whatever position you were previously assuming."

A fire sparked somewhere in her person. Professor Snape had a way of pushing buttons so that one couldn't simply take the high road. "_'Whatever position I was previously assuming?', _sir?" Her voice was low, quiet, and threatening. "God help me—dare you bring such things up in public? That is _not_ your place!"

"And if I do?" Suddenly he was inches from her face; his obsidian eyes reading into the challenge of her steely iron-guarded gaze. "Were those things not _already_ public? Is it not the truth?" His dark eyes burned into face, "I know exactly who you are; I know all I need to about you, Vienna Trotter."

She took a deep, shaky breath, "You presumptuous bastard." Tension in the air between the two was almost tangible as they glared and breathed hotly at each other; barely able to keep from ripping into one another.

* * *

_**April, 1995**_

_It had been an April storm fit for the best of clichés—rain, thunder, lightning, wind, and the works. Hail was bludgeoning Knockturn Alley as Severus Snape entered a less-than-friendly tavern. The man was severely stressed from his year of having to watch Potter and his friends—being sure they were safe and above all alive. They most assuredly did not make it an easy task on the man and he needed to relax. Lately, he had been relaxing in ways more reminiscent of his younger days. Though the firewhiskey didn't burn as long he found that perhaps, the female company had improved. Or maybe it was just that he didn't care. _

_Vienna had kept herself free for him as requested. From what she had heard from the other girls, he hadn't been to see anyone but her in months. She supposed she should be flattered, but she wasn't. She wanted to be, but she couldn't because she knew the man better than anyone else. As much as she wanted it to mean what it would mean in 'normal' society, she knew it never could and that weighed heavily on her. So Vienna watched out the window as the weather got darker. The clouds were an angrier shade of violet than she'd seen them before, or perhaps it was her mood making them seem so._

_ The door swung open a few metres behind her and she jumped, shutting her eyes tightly and refusing to turn to meet her abrupt visitor. He had been indulging in spirits already, she could smell it. Though it did not disgust her, it did annoy her; he was better than that. The witch only wished she could make him see that…see that he didn't need the whiskey or even _this_. But then who was she to say? _Who takes advice from a whore…

_ Severus Snape stood there a bit drunkenly in all his gloomy glory and stared at the woman's back—clad in a pale satin bathrobe that seemed to be sliding off her shoulders. He reached a hand out to brush the dark coffee coloured locks from her back to her shoulder only to jump back at the sound of her voice._

_ "Professor?"_

_ He blinked a few times before registering the title. "V-Vienna, I hardly think that due to our…encounters that such formality is proper."_

_ A humorless chuckle rushed past her lips. "Propriety, _Severus_? You are worried about propriety here of all places?" She turned to face him and stood on her toes to try to peer into his bloodshot eyes, though she still stood a good head shorter. "You must be thoroughly pissed, Severus. Your breath stinks!"_

_ The dark man began laughing, a terribly strange thing to see for any former student._

_ Vienna took two rather large steps back, "By the gods, Severus! Are you at least clean? You know I won't-"_

_ "—Of course you hag! I'm perfectly clean, hair and all!" He sneered, tugging on a lock of his hair to show her it was, indeed, clean._

_ The woman's face softened and she sighed a bit tiredly, "Severus, shut the door and come here. Please?" Her grey eyes shone silver up at him and he found himself obeying, though mumbling about dunderheaded former students and potions making his hair oily all the while._

_ She moved to the foot of the bed and sat down, holding her hand out to him for to take. When he did, she brought him down to sit next to her. Vienna turned to him and smiled sweetly, cupping the side of his face with her other hand, "Quit your bitchin' Severus Snape. No more of that Harry Potter or his 'dunderheaded friends' or that 'blasted know-it-all', all right? Tonight you're here to forget and relax. Voldemort doesn't exist in here. _None_ of your problems exist in this room. When I'm around none of your problems exist, aye?"_

_ Severus narrowed his dark eyes at her, searching for what, he didn't know. After a long pause of silence he sighed and got up, "You know it isn't that easy. An' besides, how can none of that exist in this room?" he slurred _

_Vienna scoffed, "Not to be crude, but you pay me damn good money to make sure of that."_

_Severus' gaze darted to her, his face appeared far more sober than before. "Yes, I suppose that would be the way things work," he sighed, "…but things are getting darker, worse." He looked at her again, "He's back. In hiding, but he's back. I know it, my dear. War will soon be upon us…"_

_ With a nod and a furrowed brow she stood and took Severus by the shoulders and brought him back to sit on the bed. "Severus," she lightly ran her thumb over the crease in his brow, "let me ease this if just for tonight. If just for this once, let me into your mind. Let me take this burden from you."_

_ He wasn't sure if it was the look in her eyes, her touch, memories of her lips, or a combination, but he gave in to the blasted witch. He pulled her body towards his and lowered his mouth to hers, but when they connected it was different than the other times; he no longer felt like a dirty old professor paying a former student for sex. He felt like her lover, her friend, a part of her—like there was nothing else in the world but them. He didn't have time to think on it as the lithe woman was twining herself into him._

_ One of her hands sought purchase in his woolen black robes whilst the other snaked its way to his hair, combing through the newly cleaned locks. It was slow, it was unusually sensual. As their kiss deepened, she lightly nipped and ran her tongue across his bottom lip, causing the strangest of sensations to erupt between them as though they had been slipped a strong dose of Amorentia._

_ "Severus," the witch breathed, looking at his ecstasy-stricken face. She cupped his face once more and kissed him soundly._

_ "Yes? Witch?" He managed between kisses, somehow still sounding bored._

_ "Nothing, dear," she breathed._

_ "Liar," he lightly bit the juncture of her neck and shoulder where the heart seemed to pulse against the skin. "You seem to forget that I know you. I've known you for years."_

_ "Since I was a child," she added, grinning devilishly and wrinkling her nose, mocking him. "You dirty, dirty man."_

_ Severus sat up slightly, looking down at the young witch, sighing heavily. "Woman, must you always bring that up? I'm not by any means going to forget you were once my student, so you don't have to remind me." He lightly traced the angles of her face with the tips of his fingers._

_ She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes, mumbling a quiet apology and then kissing his palm._

_ "Had we met under different circumstances I think I could have fallen in love with you."_

_ Vienna felt something in her chest snap and a small tear leak out of the corner of her eye as love was the very 'nothing' on the tip of her tongue. Even though she knew it before, it still hurt; still hurt to know that he didn't love her. She was ever thankful that Severus pretended not to notice. Instead, he lay back down with her and absently played with loose strands of her loosely curled hair._

_ Neither trusted themselves with words so they lay there for a while until Vienna finally got up the courage to move._

If I can't have him the way I need him, I can still give him what he needs.

_ She rolled herself on top of the dark man and pinned him to the bed, kissing him with all she had, pressing herself into him and rolling her hips just so. She knew how to make the man groan in agonized pleasure. Her nails trailed lightly up his wool-clad arms to his collar bone to the top of the buttons on his robes. "Let's get rid of these, darling," she breathed, "shall we?" One by one in a rapid succession the buttons were undone and she was pushing the robes off his body._

_ "Ah, the white shirt," she grinned. "Predictable, but still ever lovely on you."_

_ After divesting him of everything but his shorts she found herself on her back._

_ "Now witch, it is _your_ turn."_

_ "Oh really?" she challenged, raising a brow and smiling as she combed through his hair once more with one hand._

_ Severus made quick work of her satin bathrobes, "Nothing? No fancy lingerie to tear off tonight?" He raised a brow inquisitively._

_ "No," Vienna wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, "No, I thought that perhaps you might enjoy-"_

_ "—Oh, I do. I do," he murmured, trailing kisses down her chest and down the valley of her breasts. Severus leaned a cheek on one soft mound and looked up at the woman he was bedding, "You are the most special woman I have ever met."_

Liar._ Her mind choked, but she forced a smile. She couldn't let him see the doubts in her mind, nor could she voice them for fear being accused of becoming too attached. To a customer no less._

_ Unfortunately, she wasn't able to hold back as they were in the final throes, for better or worse she gasped in his ear, "Severus gods, Severus! I love you!"_

_ "I know," came his grunt and final thrust; his face contorting in pleasure. How she truly did love that face…_

_ And then they lay there entwined in silence for a few minutes before the man got up to shower. When he returned Vienna was back in her pale satin, sitting in the windowsill and staring at the storm as it continued, just as he found her earlier. He approached slowly and placed his hands on her shoulders, kissing the top of her head, "Vienna…"_

_ "I know," was all she said, wincing slightly at how hurtful she now knew those words to be, but she didn't want to hear him say what she knew would be to follow. But it didn't stop the coming words, it only made them colder: Severus told her that she could find her payment on the dresser and that he would not be seeing her again. He left._

Gone.

* * *

**July, 1995**

"Oh, Vienna, my dear! What a surprise!"

Both Severus and Vienna turned their heads to look at the whimsical headmaster. Severus, of course, was the first to recover, "Indeed. I have already informed her that the position here she is applying for, however, has been filled."

"Hm? Oh, yes! Ah, Umbridge—so sorry, my dear, I've been so busy. I forgot to owl you."

"It's alright, Headmaster, I understand perfectly. I wish the best of luck to the man."

Severus scoffed quietly beside her but drew no further attention to himself.

The headmaster chuckled merrily, "I believe Dolores is a woman, by all accounts, though I haven't checked, myself…" Albus seemed to drift off into a world all his own for a moment before he came back to them, "Lemondrop? Every Flavor Bean? You're more than welcome to stay for a chat, my dear girl."

"No thank you, sir. Perhaps I'll just be on my way. Maybe another time."

"I'll escort her out." Severus stated as he opened the door leading out of the headmaster's office.

"I'm sure I can use the floo again," she huffed indignantly.

"Actually," Dumbledore interjected, raising a crooked finger and some suspicion with his twinkling eyes, "I'm expecting someone else to come through at any moment. I wouldn't want a run-in."

"Of course, sir," with a sweet smile she nodded her head in departure. As soon as Severus had shut the door behind them Vienna turned to glare at him. "Just _what_ do you think you are doing Severus Snape?" she seethed. "What _fu-_"

"Language, Miss Trotter," he chided, smirking. "I might just take thirty points from Slytherin simply to spite you if you get on my nerves."

The witch took a deep breath and quickly exhaled, "I don't know if you're even worth a retort anymore, you snarky bastard."

"If you're going to insist on such coarse language I'm going to insist I either finish escorting you out or we go to my office," he sneered, "Either way, you're _not_ getting what you, uh, _came_ for."

Eyes wide with fury, Vienna watched as her palm made contact with the side of Severus' face almost of its own accord. "You stupid wizard! You arse! You think everything I do is defined by you?" Her voice lowered now, as it was shaking dangerously on the edge of tears, "No. No, I put you behind me when I realized you couldn't be arsed to care about me anymore than a commodity; I _came_ here, as you so lasciviously put it, for the DADA position. Just. As. I. Said." She took a deep breath, watching his ever stoic face stay annoyingly unreadable. "You think _my_ language needs to be confined out of the earshot of the students? Well you had better watch your own, because it will damage them _far more_ than anything their parents can warn them against ahead of time. But you know that. You _thrive_ on that power of destroying people. I thought you'd be proud of me-making something of myself and choosing a better path!"

She turned to leave but rounded once more on the infamous bat of the dungeons, staring him in the eyes as her chest heaved quickly. To an onlooker it may have looked as though they were considering entering into a heated kiss, but this was not the case. Not the outcome anyway, it was briefly on the minds of both parties, but neither would admit it. With tears finally leaking from her eyes, Vienna said the words she never meant, "You're going to die a very lonely man, Severus Snape. And _no one_ will love you. _No one_ will miss you." Even as she said the words, she felt a bit dizzy, but she didn't let it deter her; she gathered her wounded pride and threw all the pain in her heart right at him.

With that, she turned on her heel and left.

_Gone._

She didn't see the brief flicker of pain in the wizard's face.

* * *

**Spring, 1999**

She came like a good little pet when Voldemort called, she participated in everything ever asked of her. She suffered Bella's Cruciatus when she didn't complete a task as instructed, she had been given to Rabastan Lestrange as a plaything, and she was forced to bear _his_ presence and knowledge that she had betrayed everyone at every gathering. The only thing he would say to her was that perhaps she should look in the mirror when making accusations of causing damage.

So when the Dark Mark called her to what she knew to be the last battle, she went. She went and she fought with all her ability…for the Light. She killed several of her own—people she couldn't be bothered with. Curses and hexes flew from her wand left and right to the point where the wood almost burned her hand from the heat.

The witch was hit with a few slicing hexes from each side here and there, but nothing that would keep her from fighting…being near _him._

And then she heard a hissing voice that sent cold chills down her spine, mingling with that of the man she...followed.

_Severus is meeting with him_. She silently disillusioned herself and snuck in as she kept to the shadows; shielding herself from the serpentine creature and the dark wizard as well as the rest of the world. Hell would be paid should she be seen watching an obviously secret meeting when she should be out fighting—not to mention the hell she would find awaiting her once the Dark Lord heard of her turncoat ways. But she didn't linger on those thoughts long, for the next thing she heard was one of the most feared names within Death Eater ranks: "_Nagini!"_

Her heart sank with the limp form of Severus Snape as he stumbled back and fell; blood gushing from the large snake bite on his neck. The pallor of his skin seemed even paler than normal and she had to remind herself of the other man still in the building. She held her breath until she knew he was gone and exhaled quickly only to hold her breath once more as she watched the three brats she'd heard Severus endlessly complain about swiftly make their entrance. She whispered to herself for them to leave every moment that they were there; taking up precious moments that she could be helping him. But by the time she was able to get in safely, it was too late.

_You're too late, he's gone._ It was like an awful chant stuck in her head. She couldn't believe she stood by and watched him die. _You stupid, stupid girl! You should have stunned those kids and saved him, what were you thinking?_ Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran over to his body now that they were finally alone and brought his lifeless body to her chest.

"You evil git," Vienna sobbed into his hair, "You evil, evil git. How dare you let that sick bastard take you like that? How dare you not order those kids save you? You'd have been a bossy old bat any other day!" The grief-stricken woman pulled the body away from her and inspected the wound and then began searching his robes. "Surely you kept anti-venom for that monster on your person, or maybe a bezoar stone? Severus…" she sobbed, now resting her head on his bloodied chest and finally letting loose with all her tears for the love she'd never know.

Hours later, after having cried herself to sleep, she awoke to the strangest feeling—a painful, burning, screaming sensation ripped through her left forearm. Her Dark Mark? And then a cool hand lightly touched her forehead.

"Marcus?" she nearly stopped breathing, "M-Marcus, how the hell did you find-"

"Honestly, V, there's no time. We need to go, now. He's-"

"Gone." She whispered as the realization of what the pain was struck her; the Boy Wonder had killed Voldemort. _Bully for him._

"Yes," he grimaced, "but that's hardly the worst of it, love. Hardly the worst of it…I'll tell you when we're somewhere safe, but we need to go _now. _I promised Dad I'd keep…" he trailed off as he watched Vienna take an emerald ring from Severus' inner breast pocket where she knew he kept it. "Thieving little minx till the end," he muttered, and then spoke in a normal tone as he grabbed her hand, "Prepare yourself, V."

* * *

**August, 2008**

Vienna lay in bed with the sheets twisted around her nude form as she stared up at the seafoam coloured ceiling. She hated that ceiling; she had to stare at that ceiling every time Rafe would fuck her into oblivion…or so he thought. She wasn't in it. It wasn't that he wasn't any good, he was fantastic, probably. She just didn't care enough to pay attention…and he didn't pay enough attention to her to notice she faked it every single time. He owned her and that's all he cared about.

She could hear the slimy bastard showering off the remnants of their activities in the adjoining bathroom as she burned the image of the ceiling into her retinas. Anything to distract herself from what she'd just done; God knew she hated that man and hate sex wasn't what it was made up to be. He didn't even have any interesting proclivities—he was the high up all-powerful Death Eater that got away from the Order, trying to bring back the reign of Voldemort or at least a new regime of terror for Merlin's sake! Maybe a nice cat o'nine tails or something? Nothing.

Not that she and Severus really got very experimental…she was just there to chase away the demons for a night, and now he was one of hers. She smirked at the irony of the thought; sure that Severus would have rolled his eyes and told her to get on with her life. What life though? The wife of a megalomaniac in the making is no life. She had to wonder if this was vaguely what Narcissa Malfoy felt like…at least for the time being there were no unfortunate offspring in Vienna's situation to be manipulated by _their_ crazed father. Vienna scoffed at the thought, turning over onto her stomach and staring at the headboard, tracing invisible patterns onto it with her fingertips of one hand.

_Rafe, a father? I would never let such a creation come into this world. What a poor creation it would be…_

"Are you about done in that fecking shower, Rafael? Dammit, I have a meeting to go to in an hour!" She yelled as she turned over onto her back once more, shifting the covers for a bit of modesty should he storm out of the bathroom.

"You could have showered _with_ me, you know, V." He practically sung, only making her more irritable.

"A girl can only 'share' her shower _so_ many times before she needs to wash her own hair like a big girl. You forget, I got my big girl panties. I can do this." She imagined the confused look on his face at the Muggle euphemism—that and he probably wouldn't see how pants would relate to showering. He was brilliant with anything really, in actuality, except when it came to her and the way she worked.

"Woman, you have a meeting in an hour: I have a gathering of the Inner Circle to conduct."

She failed to see the importance.

"Other than Lucius, who the hell will care if you smell of sex, Rafe?"

"Touché, Vienna my love. Shouldn't you wish to use your scent to sway the meeting in your favor?"

She picked up a pillow and threw it at the bathroom door, "Pig!"

And then the pig came out with a towel wrapped around his hips, a scowl on his face. "Your shower awaits. My. Lady."

She didn't have time for more than a ten minute shower, but she still managed to make herself presentable for her meeting; _Thank Merlin for magic. _She was meeting with the head of the Department of Mysteries-Rafe's idea, of course—he wanted her employed there so the 'Third Reich,' as he so _cleverly_ called it, would have access should they need or want anything. She always wondered if he actually knew what happened to Hitler but decided to stay quiet and let him think himself and his 'cute' little Muggle references smart. It wasn't like she wanted an auspicious name for the regime anyway.

The meeting, of course, went well. With each meeting she got closer to what Rafe wanted—being employed in the department and making the Head his oblivious lapdog. He already had several—the editor and a few writers of the Daily Prophet, two healers at St. Mungo's, the new headmaster of Durmstrang, three professors at Hogwarts, and most shopkeepers of Knockturn Alley with a couple even in Diagon Alley. Of course, this wasn't counting Mr. Malfoy and what few Death Eaters that had managed to escape or avoid Azkaban altogether…all neither here nor there.

As she left her meeting, she realized that people seemed to follow Rafael's will with almost half the resistance they followed Voldemort's and began wondering if dear old Tom had kept his looks if perhaps he might have had double the following and actually succeeded. Without the monster's face there was less fear and more willing obedience…unfortunately.

She apparated to Diagon Alley—feeling a stop into the Leaky Cauldron might do her some good. Once she was settled into a booth with a nice bit of Ogden's in her hands she fell ever further into thought, wondering if there was a prophecy for a young boy-to-live to defeat her—she snorted aloud at the following thought—_beloved_ Rafael. And lo and behold, the Boy-Who-Lived slid in the seat opposite her at that very moment..

"Trotter."

"Potter," she replied flatly, staring at the contents of her mug as she swirled them around.

"Is there something in your drink?"

"No, but I'm willing to bet a few galleons there's a stick in your arse," she deadpanned, "So let's talk and see if you can wedge that thing out, eh? Might do you a world of good; what is it this time, Potter?"

Harry scowled, "You can be a right bitch, you know that?"

Vienna arched an eyebrow and smirked, cupping her face in her hand as she leaned forward and propped her elbow on the table, "I know dear boy, I know. It's nothing I haven't heard before," with a sigh she added, "Honestly, Auror, what is it? I came here for a quiet cup of-"

"A quiet cup of firewhiskey. _Of course_ a Death Eater of the 'Third Reich' would say that," he snorted. "I'm here to give you an out, _Vienna_. We're very close to finding legal ground to get your husband on but we need a little more still; if you can provide us the needed information we can grant you immunity. But time is running out."

"Mmm," she sat back and tapped her nails against the wood of the table, "Here to make deals with the wife of the _newest evil of the world_?" Vienna chuckled mirthlessly, "Things must not be looking too good for you. We both know Rafe is a clean a politician as they come." She smirked.

Harry bowed his head in a show of tried patience, "Miss Trotter-"

"Actually," an all too happy Rafe slid in next to Vienna, "it's _Mrs. Gaunt_."

Vienna scratched the side of her neck and shrugged in a show that she, rather openly, wasn't the happiest about this. "Oh lookie there, Auror. Speak of the _devil_ himself!" She smiled without bothering to make it look genuine. "Auror Potter and I were just talking about ways to lock you up."

"Mm, kinky," Rafe deadpanned, stealing a sip of his wife's drink. It seemed Vienna had picked up a dry sense of humor from her husband. "So, Potter, let me get this straight: from what my wife tells me, you still think I'm out to revive what Voldemort started?"

Harry leaned back in his seat, glaring at the man now across from him. "If not the madman himself-and I don't _think_ you're doing it. I know it. I just lack the proper evidence to throw your arse in Azkaban."

"Harry," Rafe held a hand over his heart, acting all the part of affronted, "I'm hurt. After all this time you still think I'm doing all sorts of horrible things?"

Vienna took her mug from her husband and downed another drink, "Honestly you two, sometimes I think we're all friends the way we gather together and banter over whiskey. If I have to be here, can't we at least choose a more interesting topic? I'm tired of hearing how _you_," she jabbed a finger in Harry's direction, "want _him_," she pointed to Rafe. "I mean, it's almost gay! Gods, does Ginevra get tired of hearing about Rafael? I know I get tired of hearing about _Harry_."

The two men both looked at her as if she had gone mental.

"What? It's true," she took another drink and sighed, "Look, Harry, my loyalties will always lie with my _husband_," she grimaced, "and he's a…he's a good man." She felt bile rise in her throat at the lie, "Obviously he's not doing anything. So you're just flirting with us both. If you're into that thing all you had to do was say-"

Harry sneered and slid out of the booth, "You are sick, you know that right? The deal is still there, but not for much longer," he shook his head and walked away, muttering to himself.

Once The Boy Who Lived was The Boy Who Left, Rafe turned to his wife and smirked, tucking an errant dark curl behind her ear. "Next time you call me your husband, dear, try to at least keep a straight face. That scowl just," he rather firmly grabbed her chin and sighed, "doesn't suit you. Besides, I'm not all that bad, am I?"

She jerked her chin from his grip and looked at him dejectedly, "Sorry if I'm not excited about our marriage two days before the anniversary of Marcus' death."

"Still sore about that, sweet?" He took her hand and led her out of the Leaky without paying for her Odgen's. "Like I said last week, he _betrayed_ us."

_What you don't know…_

* * *

**August, 2004**

"He's our only hope, V! Our only fucking hope—I am _not_ gonna have you put both our lives in danger just because you got in too deep with one of your clients and think you need to carry on his legacy or whatever by playing double agent for the Light. No, we're doing this straightlaced," Marcus was pacing back and forth in front of the only family he had left. He had seated her for a quiet, stern talk but she just _wouldn't_ see things clearly. She still had her head up her ass. Maybe a more forthright approach would be the way to go?

He stopped and kneeled in front of her, taking her hands and looking deep into her grey eyes with his brown ones, "Vienna we can't go back home. Iowa just isn't—they're dead. Just believe me, we're all we've got. And with all the escaped Death Eaters running around, we can't afford to try living on the Light or even neutral-"

"—but Severus-"

"—is dead. And sis, I'm sorry but he was nothing but a…client. I'm sorry you thought you had to go into that business. I'm sorry you-"

"—you keep saying you're sorry, Marcus, you keep saying all these _things_ but nothing makes a _fucking_ lick of sense!"

Marcus stood to full height and his nostrils flared, "Fine then. You want to hear something? Something that makes sense, V? Rafael Gaunt is Voldemort's cousin—his mum, Merope, had this crazy brother, Morfin—spoke Parseltongue all over kingdom come and got locked up, but he managed to rape some pureblooded witch impregnate her with this kid who managed to live an amazingly normal life, all things considered. Then came along his son, Rafael with this every-other-generation crazy gene—there's the short of it. _However_ you look at it for us, he has expressed an interest in you and I am giving my permission for him to court you!"

Vienna could only blink back tears as Marcus yelled at her. Perhaps if it were a different time, a different subject she might have laughed at him and poked fun at how wonderfully articulate he was, but this was not that time.

"V, sis, I'm paranoid. I'm so afraid they'll find your magical signature and know that you betrayed the Dark Lord."

Her eyes narrowed, "They'd only know if you narked, Marcus…and really—giving me over the man with the 'crazy gene'?"

"There were a lot of people there, anyone could nark. And with his brains and his _crazy_, it's best to get in his good graces, love."

Vienna couldn't look him in the eye; she knew this was her own fault. If she hadn't…hadn't been so wrapped up in Severus…

_Severus._ Her face contorted as she began crying.

"It'll be fine. Come now; let's fix you up like a proper pureblood woman."

She took a deep breath, "Marcus?"

"Yes, love?" he helped her stand.

"What if they do find my signature and we are good in his graces—I mean, what if it's not enough?"

A brief look she couldn't interpret flitted across his features but was quickly replaced by a smile, "Don't worry, V. I'll take care of you, just like always." He kissed her cheek and moved her to the vanity where he began brushing her hair, hiding a worried look behind that of concentration.

* * *

**August 2008**

"Right, well, when it comes to family…"

"Family," Rafe chuckled, "I know the speech, Vienna. Spare it. Why don't you go visit his grave or something? Perhaps it will quell that bellyaching of yours. I need the time for some planning, anyhow."

"Planning what?" she asked, suddenly suspicious. One, he was allowing her time for her, albeit dead, brother. Two, he was planning something and…he was just—something was off.

"Don't worry your pretty little head," he kissed her temple, "Now go be morbid and kneel at graves, love. I'll see you when you get home. We'll be having Lucius and Narcissa over so buy yourself some nice dinner robes and wear them home."

She watched his retreating form with a sort of trepidation. _Lucius is involved so this means something with money…which means something public. Narcissa is included…a gala of sorts, perhaps. What in Hades' name is he doing?_ She stood there a few moments more before taking the rare opportunity to see her brother—all thoughts of Rafe and his planning gone from her mind.

When she reached the graveyard, though, she didn't go straight for her brother's stone. Instead she went to the cross she herself placed in a small clearing in the nearby forest as she had no idea what was done with Severus' body. This was her place to visit him and pay respects, as she paid him so little respect the last time she spoke when he was alive.

She sat in front of the weathered cross and transfigured an old scarf into a wreath of white edelweiss and smiled halfheartedly. "Hi Severus, it's me, Vienna." She rolled her eyes at herself, "If you couldn't tell." She wiped a few tears from the corner of her eyes. "I mean, of course you should be able to, I'm the only one that comes here, it's no secret. But…gods, man I miss you. I miss your stupid, drunken rants at three in the morning. I miss your laugh—that strange, frightening sound. I miss you yelling at me, telling me that I could do far better than a life as a harlot. And you know? You were wrong. I was better off as a whore. As a whore I had you. As an honest woman, I have the next man who wants to take over the wizarding world. I don't even want him," she whispered quietly then snorted, "An _honest_ woman. It's funny I should be called an honest woman when I've done more lying with him than I ever did before I was married. He's made one of the most dishonest women out of me. You would be ashamed."

She played with the wreath, positioning it so it was just so on his cross. "I really loved you, Severus. I hope you knew that, even when I said those hateful things at you. You are loved _and_ missed in death…gods, I'm really eating my words, aren't I?" She let out a watery laugh, "If you can hear me, I hope…I hope you forgive me at the very least, and though I don't deserve it, please give me a sign? A sign so maybe…maybe I can forgive myself for giving in and marrying that monster." The wind picked up slightly and Vienna shook her head, "Don't argue with me Severus Tobias—that man is every inch the monster his cousin was. It's just different. It's the type of monster that seems domesticated. Don't try to tell me you were a monster because you weren't." She pressed her hand to her lips, then her hand to the cross. "Stubborn old git," she murmured. "I'll be back, love." As she stood, to leave she gasped, "Oh! I almost forgot to tell you-" she withdrew her wand from the holster on her right forearm and tapped the end on a small unassuming ring on her left index finger, "—I still have it after all these years. Your mother's ring, I mean. I hope it's not too presumptuous of me. I took it from you but I didn't know what to do. I knew you wouldn't want children mess—honestly I guess it was selfishness. I just wanted a piece of you here with me. Add it to my list of crimes, I guess." She looked down to the emerald thoughtfully before replacing the glamour on it.

"I'm so, so sorry, Severus."

She walked solemnly to Marcus' grave, falling to her knees. Never had she felt so helpless.

Alone.

"Marcus?" she touched the stone lightly and lowered her face to the ground, "Marcus, I need you. I need Severus—I know in life I endlessly hounded you about him but, brother I don't know what to do. I'm completely lost—I'm literally surrounded with Death Eaters with no wand. I mean, I have my wand, but it's useless. I know you meant well, but have you any idea what this life is like when all I yearn for is anything but?" for the second time that day, Vienna felt bile rising in her throat. "It makes me sick having to live the way I do. This was always your game, not mine. I was checkers, you were chess." She wiped her face with the back of her wrist, "I hope wherever you are that you're happy. I'm sorry you gave your life for such an ungrateful sister. But I love you." She patted his stone and stood to leave without further memorial—best not to leave traces on traitor's graves. Even so, something felt off—she turned to look over her shoulder. _Nothing._ But it was odd, so instead of walking back to Diagon Alley to buy her robes, as she usually would, she apparated.

In the distance, hiding in the thick of the trees, was a tall silhouette doing its best to meld into its fellow shadows; become one with the woods. However once the woman disappeared, the mysterious shadow disappeared as well; neither leaving traces of their presence.

-o-o-o-

Lucius Malfoy gave his ever-preening wife one last bemused glance before lightly chastising her. "Cissa, you know that Rafael does _not_ like to be kept waiting any more than you do. The argument could very well be made that our lives depend on us being there punctually."

Narcissa smiled primly and smoothed her silver-blonde locks back one last time before turning Lucius and taking his hand, "Surely not when one of us is the only friend his darling little wife has."

"He has been letting her out more, you know, my pet, she could make more friends and render you useless," he said conversationally as they walked to their fireplace and he grabbed a handful of Floopowder for himself. "I'm sure he'll discuss it, though, as her endeavors have only been to further our cause. And you know," he paused to kiss his wife's delicate hand before he let go to turn to the fireplace, "It seems he may have made some progress with her. She's actually succeeding. Gaunt Manor!"

"Or," Narcissa murmured to herself as she grabbed a bit of Floo powder and rolled her eyes, "she's planning something. Thank the gods the Dark Lord never had a wife…Gaunt Manor."

-o-o-o-

Rafe was standing by a portrait of his dear old, crazed, and deceased granddad, hissing at him in parseltongue only the Dark Lord knew what. That was how the Malfoys found him as they entered the Floo. They waited quietly off to the side for him to acknowledge them before moving further into the room.

"Lucius, Narcissa—please come in, come in. Don't you look lovely, Narcissa?" Rafe took one of the witch's hands in his and kissed it lightly while gesturing widely with the other, "Why don't you have a seat my dear? My dear Vienna may be awhile. I'm afraid I granted her an outing this evening and she could be-"

Lucius cleared his throat politely and strode over to the dark haired woman standing in the open doorway, "On time and looking impeccable as usual, if I may?" He graciously held his arm out for her to take and led her over to her husband and his Cissa. "My Lord, it appears your wife was merely awaiting the opportune moment to make her entrance."

After sending Lucius a warning glare for so rudely interrupting him, Rafe looked Vienna over, taking in her burgundy dress robes and coiffed hair—it seemed she had actually listened to him. He vaguely wondered if she had even the time to have visited the cemetery but wouldn't bring it up in front of the Malfoys. _No need to let them know she is visiting dead traitors._ "Indeed," he murmured, gently prying his wife from Lucius and bringing her to his side. "and an entrance it would have made if she would have actually _made an entrance_." With a light kiss on her cheek, he added as an aside to Lucius, "I do believe we have the two most gorgeous witches in all of Wizarding Britain."

"To be sure," Lucius nodded, watching a variety of emotions play across the younger witch's face, not the least of which was horribly disguised contempt and he smirked. "To be sure."

After a bit of a pause, Vienna sighed in a way which, Lucius supposed, was supposed to be amicable. Unfortunately it only came off as frustrated and annoyed and he had to bite back a smirk. Rafe had the most interesting taste in witches— surely he could have had almost any pureblooded witch and yet he chose the one most unwilling? What was so compelling about this one, little, firecracker?

"Shall we sit?" the youngest of the group asked, trying to smile.

"You and Narcissa may," Rafe replied, withdrawing his hold from his witch, "but before we dine I have a few things to discuss with Lucius in my study."

"Of course you do. Off to the man cave, _darling._"

Narcissa shot her a sharp look but said nothing until the men were out and she had cast a Silencing charm. "You ought to at least _act_ like you like him, my dear."

And if the Killing curse could be cast solely with the eyes, Narcissa Malfoy would have been dead; "Cissy, you of all people—expecting me to even _pretend_ like I give two shits about him?"

"Language," the blonde chastised lightly as she looped her arm through the brunette's. "I know he's not your…ideal partner…but-"

"Ideal?"

"Let me finish," she gave Vienna a death glare of her own, "Like I said, I know he's not _ideal_ but he's what you've got. He's what you've got and you must deal with this in the best possible way—use it to your advantage. I know you honestly couldn't give a shit about Light and Dark magic, as long as it suits your needs-"

"_Language,"_ Vienna mimicked.

Narcissa only smiled and continued, "—but right now you have to realize that Dark is what suits your needs." She turned the younger witch to face her and held her chin firmly in her grip, "Don't get any ideas." She searched her eyes in a pleading manner. "He is far more powerful than you and far cleverer than any of us could ever imagine. I want you to do whatever it takes to stay safe."

"Thank you, mum," Vienna smiled half-heartedly and Narcissa scowled, dropping her hands from the woman immediately. "Well, you are old enough so don't look so hurt—and you are acting like one. But really, what am I going to do?" She chuffed and looked off, unseeingly, "Between him and the Dark Lord, everything that matters is gone."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: And here's another chapter, friends! I would like to thank Ducky for her beta skills. She told me that nothing seemed to glare at her, and in fact this chapter seemed quite grammatically friendly. Here's to hoping! Enjoy and feel free to give your thoughts. I promise Severus will show up more prominently as this plot moves on. I'll try to post the next chapter within the next two weeks. (: Apologies for the slow-go.  
**

**-C**

**August 2008**

Vienna stared absently at the present company; what was supposed to have been a quiet dinner between the Gaunts and the Malfoys had turned into a preview of gatherings to come—the who's who of the wizarding world coming together, uniting under one leader. It would be perfect, really, if it weren't happening under this monster. Somehow he managed to get the different branches of once bickering departments to get along and even play nicely side by side. He had made the streets safer to walk down—Knockturn Alley of all places, too. Not a pick pocket in sight. The part that frightened her about all of this was that he wasn't even Minister.

_Yet._ Ah yes; yet. Rafe was planning it. He was planning to make things work so smoothly with him at the helm that if he removed himself all would be utter chaos and the population would have no choice but to elect him as their Minister—the way he had things lining up would ultimately put him in place as dictator. What his plans were once he was in power, she wasn't entirely sure, nor did she want to know because honestly it frightened her bloodless some nights to hear the little she did of what he and Lucius were planning.

_Lucius_ that turncoat, backstabbing, snowflake traitor; he couldn't pick a side—the winning side, sure. But that meant he spoke from both sides of his mouth—he'd demonstrated this at the end of Voldemort's reign. Why couldn't Rafe see that?

_That's not what bothers you._ A small voice inside nagged at her. _You're angry he did nothing to save his supposed best friend._

"Yeah, that _would_ put me off a bit," she snorted to herself, jumping when her husband wrapped his arms around her waist.

"And what is putting you off, love?" his breath smelled of whiskey—he'd been smooth talking a new 'friend'.

"Just that I thought we'd have a nice small dinner tonight—just us, Lucius, and Cissy, but it seems you've invited at least half the ministry and-" she twisted in his arms to wrinkle her nose up at him, "—managed to make all your unrespectable friends look somewhat respectable." _Liar…although it is a tad annoying. Now I'll have to wait a good week before I can probably see her again and she's ungodly busy being schmoozed._

Confusion wrote itself over Rafe's face, "You're upset because…everything is going nicely and some people clean up well?"

"Sounds about right," she sighed and rested her head against his chest, albeit hesitantly, to which Rafe raised his brows in surprise. "Couldn't you have told me right up front that we were going to have a small village in our parlour tonight?"

"No," he laughed, "You would have hexed my bits right off. However, I know you're _never_ averse to having the Malfoys over...should I be worried, V?" He leaned back and tilted her chin up. As much as he was enjoying this unusual, voluntary close contact his paranoia was getting the best of him.

"You can't be serious," she snorted. "You think…" she laughed disbelievingly, "if anything I'd worry about me running off with Cissy…but it's _hardly_ romantic!"

"At least if it was I'd know what makes you so distant and cynical," he snorted, leaning his forehead against hers.

"To have married you, darling," she narrowed her eyes and twisted away from him and the close contact, "I'd have to be."

Rafe grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip and turned her to face him, speaking in a dangerously calm, low voice, "V, my dear; distant and cynical you may be, but you are also my wife and therefore supposed to respect me. I've _never_ received that from you. I've received something like affection—like you might have been warming up to me—just now I thought you might be coming around but no," he sneered, "you're still a manipulative little bitch. And really," the sneer turned into a frightening half smile as he trailed a finger down the side of her face, "it's part of what I adore about you. It's really why you're so useful. But I don't," his face turned dark once more, "want you using that on _me_. I am not one of the idiots to be persuaded. Save your bitchy little manipulative talents for them. As a matter of fact," his mood suddenly lightened considerably, "Here come a few trolls now. Why don't we put you to use, my lady?"

Without waiting for her response because, frankly he couldn't care less, he took her arm in his and led her to the 'trolls' as Vienna schooled her face to an expression of mild interest. When Rafe got like this it frightened her into submission, and frankly, it wouldn't do to show fear or to suddenly change face in front of the people she had been working over. It was a matter of her stupid pride, that very same pride which was both her downfall and kept her safe. She could already hear Narcissa's voice whispering warnings in the back of her head.

"Lord Gaunt," Vienna shook herself mentally and looked briefly at the man addressing Rafe. Was he—he couldn't be the Head of the Auror department! _No!_ "My Lady," he took her hand and lightly kissed it. "A pleasure."

"Indeed," a sweet smile spread across her face. "Though I'm afraid we've not been formally introduced."

"Then let me change that," he straightened up and smiled rather winningly, "Auror Leonidas Buchanan, at your service."

"Auror Buchanan," she smiled, laughing to herself at the attention he seemed to pay her mouth as she said his name, "Don't tell me you're the Head of the Department, are you? You're _incredibly_ young." _How did Rafe get to you?_

"Yes, he is the very same. Top of his class-even beat out Mr. Potter."

Buchanan chuckled and whispered conspiratorially, "Well that wasn't tough. Get the man a bit distracted and he's useless."

_So that's how. Dirty player. Makes enough sense, I suppose._ "Can't have our Head Auror running around with his head not in his work, now can we?" she laughed softly and patted Rafe's arm while scanning the room as the men began conversing. But then…

_No._

She felt the blood drain from her face as she focused in on a dark figure across the room; the same dark figure from the bar. He was looking right at her, just…just as if he looked long enough he could burn a hole right through her. _It surely can't be._ Her chest constricted and without realizing what she was doing, she squeezed Rafe's arm. He glanced down at her briefly before continuing his conversation, bothering to pay close enough attention only when she fell limply into his form.

"Merlin's beard! Shall I go get Healer Scrim?" Buchanan gestured over his shoulder as he peered, astonished, at the delicate, pale figure now scooped into Rafe's arms.

"No, it's quite alright, though thank you. Perhaps...on second thought, yes. Please, go get him."

"Alright." The man disappeared into the crowd to retrieve the healer in question.

When the elderly man returned with Buchanan, he had a small scowl on his face. "Lord Gaunt, I presume? I don't mean to take such liberties as to boss you in your own house, but please put take your wife to a damn couch or something! The way you're holding her is hardly conducive to the blood flow she needs to regain consciousness and simply cannot be comfortable. She'll wake with a crick in her neck."

_Good thing I asked for him,_ Rafe huffed inwardly as he set carefully lay Vienna down on a couch, as instructed. _It seems this man may be a bit difficult…perhaps I'll leave Sleeping Beauty to him. He seems the type that might hold a certain fondness for her._ He watched Scrim cast diagnostic spells and look through his bags. The old wizard found the smelling salts and revived the unconscious witch, who came to by bolting upright and looking frantically around muttering under her breath.

"Severus, Severus? Sev-" and then upon the realization of her surroundings, the lack of any man resembling Professor Snape, immediate dizziness, and the gentle coaxing of the healer she lay down again.

"Something certainly has you in a snit, Lady Gaunt. If I may be so bold; why the unexpected lie-down?"

Vienna eyed the man with wide-eyed confusion.

"What the good healer means, wife, is why did you faint?"

"Oh. My," she blushed, "undergarments…they're a bit tight. I'll have to have one of the Elves help me."

"My dear girl, why have an Elf when you have me?" _Thank you, Cissy._ "If that's all she needs, I can surely take care of her. Now you men go about your business. I'm sure there is more of our dear husbands' whiskey to be drank and all that. Shoo, shoo." Narcissa looked over to Rafe, "My Lord, I'm sorry if I interrupted but when I overheard that she had fainted I-"

"There is no need, Narcissa." He smiled at her indulgently, "Take care of our frail little pet, would you?"

"Of course, my Lord." She watched as Rafe walked away before turning to Vienna, "_Fragile little pet_, my arse!" and wrapped one of the younger woman's arms about her shoulders so she could support most of her weight and walk her to the study.

Once both women were settled, Narcissa waited patiently for a good ten minutes before finally speaking up. "It was him, wasn't it? I know for a fact you don't let those Elves touch your bustier collection, be they on or off."

Vienna licked her dry lips and took in a deep breath, smiling weakly at Narcissa's offhanded mentioning of her unmentionables, "I—I don't know. I thought so. He looked so real…"

"Say he was," Vienna shot her an incredulous look, "what then, Vienna? Let's say that our dear Severus Snape has come back from the depths of wherever he's been and has come back to profess his unrequited love for you. You're _married_. Married to a man that will kill any man you even hint at fancying…and then probably come back and put you under some eternal mindless love curse. _Git_."

"For such a refined woman, your language can be rather unpolished," Vienna muttered, more to herself than Narcissa.

Narcissa's light eyes glittered with something akin to amusement as she pushed back a few stray hairs from the girl's face, "Only around the daughter I never had."

"Hmm," Vienna sighed, tilting her head to one side pensively, "I suppose it's a good thing you never had this daughter, then. She fell into bed and in love with Daddy's _supposed_ best friend."

With a roll of her eyes, Narcissa stood up. "You are impossible, child. You always ruin what _could_ have been a nice moment—sometimes I wonder if you aren't dear, late Bella's unfortunate spawn." _Wouldn't that beat all? Bellatrix's daughter married to the new Dark Lord. It would have been as though her prayers were answered…if the crazy bint even prayed…_

"I can assure you, Cissy I come from 'a galaxy far, far away'."

The older witch cocked her head curiously, or perhaps in a manner that suggested she thought the younger had lost it. But it was sure she didn't understand.

"Muggle thing from back home."

With a short nod of acknowledgement, Narcissa turned to the liquor cabinet and began pouring them each a small glass of Scotch. "Vienna, darling, now…about Severus-"

"It's not the first time I've seen him, Cissy."

"That's not something I'd go around saying, in any context, V," the blonde's eyes had widened considerably.

"I don't think he's dead. I can't explain it, but why else would I be seeing him—he's not transparent like Nearly Headless Nick or the Bloody Baron. He's dark, brooding, and there. Just like always. I mean, I'm not sure that it's him, but I can't see it being anyone el-"

"Put these thoughts from your head immediately!" Narcissa's stern voice cut in, her expression visibly shaken, "Do not speak to anyone else of these…fantasies. In fact," she handed Vienna her Scotch and downed her own, "Don't mention it to me even. Severus Snape is dead." Even her tone was so dead that it sent shivers down her spine. In her spirit-filled haze, in reminded her vaguely of the last time she'd heard someone else speak in such tones…

* * *

**December 1992**

_Knockturn Alley wasn't his favorite place to be perfectly honest but it was where the rest of the Dark Lord's followers seemed to congregate. _Wonderful._ Running into them and other characters of the sort was no surprise; he didn't even bat an eyelash when he saw Lucius Malfoy dragging along a young Draco Malfoy into Borgin & Burkes. What did give him pause, however, was seeing one of the brighter of his former students walking into a tavern of which he knew to also house many of the local whores. The sallow face of Severus Snape curled into one of distaste as he made the decision to go talk some sense into the young woman. It was one thing to go from the top five percent of your class to a whorehouse, it was completely different thing to go to servicing Death Eaters. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a walk, so he didn't get there in time to see where she went._

Why do I bother?_ "Stephan-that girl that just came in, where did she go?"_

_ "Not e'en a 'hullo'? Just cuttin' right in fer the chase, are we? Well, if you're meanin' the pretty li'l Edelweiss…" _

Clever name, if not a bit obvious.

_"…she's up in room six, but she migh' be a wee bi' busy." The old barkeeper winked and waggled an eyebrow suggestively as though Snape had no idea what she could be up to._

_ "Quite alright, thank you sir," Snape nodded and slipped a couple galleons on the counter muttering a meaningful, "For your discretion," to the man as he walked up the stairs and to the rooms._

_ When he came to number six he knocked thrice, though to no avail…and it was rather silent in there…_Usually no silencing charms are set on these rooms,_ he mused inwardly, pressing his hand down gently on the doorknob._

Surely she couldn't be 'busy', the door would be locked, yes?_ He assumed the women always locked the door—no one ever barged in on any of his visits, not that he visited a lot. But hell, a man needed a woman every now and again. Filing the reminder to always lock the door himself away to the recesses of his mind, he soundlessly pushed the door open and entered. The wizard wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation in front of him but he hid it perfectly behind his usual mask of indifference:_

_ Vienna Trotter—Edelweiss—riding Barty Crouch Jr. like a goddess or a well-versed whore, carressing his chest with the tips of her hair and kissing him so deeply Snape was sure that the man would suffocate and die—perhaps the witch was actually a succubus? Once he realized his staring was bordering on voyeurism he shook himself and cleared his throat._

_ The witch quite nearly jumped out of her skin; rolling over to the side and pulling the covers over both nude figures which Snape found a little moot, as it was obvious he'd seen more of both parties than he'd ever wanted to. "Fucking hell! P-Professor, what…how did you get in?"_

_ Severus chortled and gestured behind him, "Through the door, you stupid girl. How else?"_

_ Barty Jr. let out a small howl of pain as the little minx slapped his bare chest, "You were supposed to lock it, you dolt! You were here first!"_

_ "But you walked through it last," he accused._

_ "Oh, because I had _so_ much time between the door and being dragged to the bed."_

_ "Enough!" Snape pinched the bridge of his nose. He thought it couldn't get worse, but it had. She was entertaining supposedly _dead_ Death Eaters. "You," he jabbed his finger at Barty, "Out. I'm sure I'll be seeing you all too soon."_

_ "Doubt it, mate," he smirked, "I'm the ace up the sleeve." With that he got up, unabashed in his nakedness, got dressed and kneeled jokingly before Vienna with her wand in his open palm, "My Lady."_

_ She glowered at Severus for a moment before turning to Barty and smirking somewhat fondly, "Of course, you slimy filth." She took her wand from his hands and tapped it on the crown of his head, disillusioning him. "Now slither away, you sneaky snake."_

_ Once the disillusioned man made his exit known by closing the door behind him, Severus began tearing into the young witch._

_ "Do you have _any_ idea of the compromising position you've put yourself in? You're playing bare-handed in a field of blast-ended skrewts with mandrakes yelling all around you without the protection of muffs!"_

_ Vienna rolled her eyes, "If you're implying that I don't use protection-"_

_ "Damn your protection, Miss Trotter! Do you realize what you're doing? That you're selling your body when you could be using your mind?"_

_ "A compliment, Professor?"_

_ He smoothly ignored that comment and continued on, "The path you are travelling now will lead to a very early demise for you. Nothing good can come of this."_

_ "Is that why you're here, Professor?" she got up, clutching the sheets tightly to her front and stood toe to toe with Severus, "You saw me coming in here—one of your 'brightest' students—and thought it was your duty to warn me of the consequences of my actions, as though I might not have thought of them? Or perhaps what you saw was a chance to fulfill a fantasy? Professor?"_

_ Somehow the sneaky little minx had managed to get her arms around his neck and press her sheet-clad body into his; the thought that he had been distracted irritated the already irate man to no end. "Hardly my intentions—now if you would please remove yourself from my person?" He glared down at her and she met his gaze, if a little uncertain. "I gave you the opportunity," he murmured to himself and cast a silent Immobulus_ _on her before stepping out of her grip. The sheets began fluttering down, but he caught it before it made a full descent and draped it over her shoulders. He wasn't about to take advantage of such a situation after all…even if she _was_ completely willing…_

"_I hope you're quite pleased with yourself. Finite Incantantum."_

_ Vienna unfroze and quickly wrapped her arms around herself, having the grace to look a bit ashamed now._

_ And in the most lifeless tone she'd ever heard that left an icy feeling in her stomach and her heart plummet to the depths of the frozen void, Snape departed: "Believe it or not I have had high hopes for you. Now I see you will amount to nothing; such a disappointment." And as the door shut she felt the uncontrollable urge to prove him wrong; bide her time and prove him so _very_ wrong. She wasn't sure how, but she would do it._

_ He may have left, but he was not gone._

* * *

**August 2008**

Vienna took a deep breath, blinking away the threatening tears as she gave Narcissa a curt nod. "Of course."

"Now if that's all and your undergarments are all in a righted state I'm going to return. I suggest you follow en suite, dear—ah! Lucius," she glided over the floor to meet her husband in the door and placed a chaste kiss upon his cheek, "Come to check up on us, have you?"

Lucius smiled indulgently at Narcissa, "You two have been out of sight for quite some time, and I figured it couldn't hurt. After all, what would our Lord have to say if something happened to his sweet wife on our watch?"

"I'm sure we'll never have to find out," Vienna interjected sweetly. "With friends such as you I don't see it being a problem."

Narcissa sent her a departing look that said, _'Be sure of that.' _And she received the message loud and clear, responding with the slightest of nods.

As Cissy left, Lucius eyed Vienna and her still-full glass of Scotch, smirking. "I see you've been putting some stress on our Cissa, hm?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she smiled innocently bur shifted nervously in her seat. She hated being left alone with Lucius; he was always watching her, studying her. It was as though she was a fascinating caged animal or perhaps he knew something. Both thoughts equally disturbed her. But, she supposed, both were probably true and he would come to collect one day or another.

"Ah," he leered over her now—when did he get so close?—and bent down so that his breath would tickle her ear as he spoke, "It's not polite to lie, _Vienna_." He pulled back just enough to look directly into her eyes without them both going cross-eyed. "I think you forget quite often, but who can blame you with all the pretty little webs you weave? Let's kindly refresh your memory—make you aware of a few things, hm?" He brushed some stray hairs back from her face as he sat just this side of too close to her, "These circles you run in? They've been my place—my family's place—for generations. Your husband? I am his _only_ confidante," he smiled in a way that reminded her of Rafe—so fake and frightening, but she feared this man far less…right now anyway. "And your best friend? My Cissa? Well, she is _my_ Cissa; my wife. Do you think she always guards her tongue around me?"

"To my knowledge, _Mister_ Malfoy, there is nothing to guard, unless you are referring to your sex life, in which case this conversation has taken a whole different and entirely inappropriate turn."

She looked down at the small space between the two of them and back up at him once more, speaking in her best imitation of the voice Rafe could use to send frightened chills down her spine—the calm, cold one, "Now I do not know where this ridiculous bit of exposition is going, but I would _greatly_ appreciate it if you would kindly put more space between us before it continues any further." A quick, fake smile of her own flickered across her face. She'd never liked Malfoy, but he was he was getting borderline dangerous. What the _hell_ was he getting at?

"What is it your Muggle friends say? 'Famous last words?'" He looked her up and down once more and stood, holding his hands behind his back; staring down his aristocratic nose at her. She wished she could break that nose. "It appears I have no further business here. If you'll excuse me, I've your husband to attend to and a prophecy to carry out."

"Oh really? What prophecy might that be?" she tried masking her voice into that of mild indifference but had trouble hiding her contempt for the man.

"Oh how rude of me—the one your dearly departed Severus made of course. Anguish, death, and all that."

In that moment Vienna could have sworn her heart stopped beating. _Let Lucius know _anything_ but that. Gods, please, no. Not that, not Severus._

"Why so pale, Ladyship?" he taunted, kneeling in front of her, "Have _I_ got your tongue?" He ran the pads of his fingers over her paled lips, "Oh my, so we do have secrets, don't we? Have we been a little traitor?" He practically purred, his eyes glittering up at her.

"No more than _you_," she retorted quietly once she finally found her voice, though it held none of the bite she wished it to.

"Ah, ah, ah," he wagged a finger in her face, "But I only ran; saving my son and my wife; an understandable show of fear for the welfare of my family. _You_ killed others of the Dark Lord's followers, didn't you? For what purpose? And _y_ou caught that blasted Golden Trio unawares when Snape was dying and didn't do a thing but to try to revive the dying_ traitor_. And you let your brother take the fall for all of it. He was one of the Dark Lord's most loyal really, and you—dear, sweet, _innocent_ thing that you are—let him take the fall; let your _husband_ kill your brother. Yet you gripe about it to this very day when it may as well have been you who cast the spell."

_How could she? I trusted her with _everything!_ So stupid! Stupid girl, stupid girl!_

"Nothing? Hm?" He smiled up at her in the most shark-like manner she'd ever seen and she felt like being sick. He knew _more_. "Let's go back a few years further—your relationship with Severus? Yes. Personally, I'm surprised he was even able to pay his way into a former student's knickers but really…there's no accounting for taste, is there?"

Incensed, she made to slap him but he caught her wrist. It only infuriated her more when he studied her hand. "How many crimes have you committed with these hands, Vienna? How many people have you hurt with these small, delicate, pureblood hands? Is it just your blood on them? Surely not. We've your brother's blood, I'm sure you'd count Severus', maybe your parents, perhaps the heirs Rafe has tried to create with you but you keep preventing with the blackest of magic—do you take part in the destruction of everyone you love?"

She pulled her hand back and glared at him, "What do you want, _Malfoy_?"

Lucius looked positively frightening as he rose to full height over her and gazed at her with an expression of hunger blatantly written on his features, "What do I want? My Lady, isn't it obvious?" His cold hands cupped her face in what would have been a loving gesture had there been any love between them.

_"You."_

And then he turned on his heel and left the room, taking all the air in her lungs with him.

_Of all the arrogant, bold—'You'—he said. What does that even mean? It could mean plenty of things. It could mean he wants a new dance partner? Oh, don't be daft, of course that's not what he means. Perhaps he wants to use me to somehow—no. No, he's not that ambitious. Draco could have been, but Lucius certainly isn't. Lucius prefers to throw his weight around under the leadership of others to compare dick sizes. Really, thank Merlin Draco turned out like he did…Gods, surely he doesn't want me in his bed, does he? Surely he knows how many ways that could go wrong—not that I'd do it. It's Cissy's husband, for one. For another I simply cannot stand the man. I can't stand the man I have to bed in the first place, I can't go about bedding two men I hate now can I?_

_ Well there's an idea, V. Whore yourself out again. It's a never-ending circle._

_ Honestly, how did it get to this in the first place? How could Cissy do this to me—she knows how volatile that information is. I'd like to think the best of her but…how else? He's hardly a master Legilimens and I doubt…well…Veritaserum is a possibility, actually. Oh, Circe._

Vienna dropped herself to her back on the couch she was seated on, quite ungracefully if it might be said so, and huffed at her inner monologue. "An impossible situation if I ever saw one," she groaned, rubbing her eyes. "What the hell could he want of me?"

That night found Vienna in a rather jumpy mood. Any time Rafe would start a sentence anew from silence her heart would speed up to impossible tempos and she would jump quite nearly out of her skin. She was so afraid that he _knew_; that Lucius told. Or perhaps that he had set the whole thing up. Any way she looked at it she was scared pissless and could barely manage to act normal around the man because it just felt as though her days were now numbered.

And he picked up on it. He thrived on that fear. He would take every advantage of that fear.

-o-o-o-

"Vienna," a soft puff of warm breath hit the side of her neck as he approached her from behind. "Vienna, darling?"

After jumping and rather uncharacteristically playfully swatting him for 'startling her' she faced away once more; leaning back into him and staring out at the grounds below the Manor, "Yes, dear?"

The wizard's eyebrows shot up at the combined physical contact and term of endearment. He snorted, "Should I worry, Vienna? The last time you were this kind to me you were on your way to manipulating the shite out of me."

_Tried being the operative word, there_.She snorted derisively.

"I wouldn't worry, Rafael. It would only put more lines on that beautiful face of yours."

Her comment was met only with a light laugh and a squeezing around her waist.

"I'm perfectly serious," she leaned her head back to look up at him and he seized the moment to take her lips with his own and enjoy a rare, languid kiss with his wife. He couldn't help but smile into the kiss as he wondered what sort of predicament she was in to be so accepting of something she would normally rather hex his balls of for.

He broke off the kiss, humming and gently trailing the tips of his fingers over her collarbone, "You must be in trouble then, hm? Tell me, what in Merlin's name could you have done? Does it have something to do with your Cissa—the other night when you blacked out?" A deep laugh escaped when he felt her shiver, "Hit it on the nose, did I? Now I've figured the color; to figure the object."

He turned her around and kissed her full on the mouth rather heatedly until he realized Vienna was not going to push him away. Rafe backed up and spoke in a low and serious voice, "Do I need to be worried?"

"Of course not," she said breathily, concentrating on his lips—doing her best to appear aroused.

"So help me, if—_when_ I find what it is that you have done-"

With more confidence than she felt, she told him that there was nothing to find out and led him to their room before pulling him in for a heated kiss of her own.

Rafe, never one to turn down an opportunity to shag his beautiful, usually ice cold wife, seized the moment. It didn't soothe him, however. It only made him far more suspicious of his little Vienna; and he told her in so many words even as they fell into bed: "Don't think this changes anything, my sweet."

Vienna closed her eyes and tried not to let his words get to her, but all she saw when she closed her eyes were the images of things she didn't want him to see—things he may catch on to if he spoke to the right people. Things that could get her in a very painful way if she didn't come up with a plan soon. So there, in their marriage bed while her husband began disrobing her, she began formulating a plan.

The first step was to render Lucius Malfoy useless in the eyes of her husband, ergo losing any credibility he may have…without also harming Narcissa in the process…but how could that be done? Families came as 'packages' for lack of a better term and honestly it would be easier to get rid of Rafe. If her brother hadn't made such sacrifices for her life and she didn't think that Severus might actually be out there—or at least his ghost was watching over her—she might just off herself and get the whole thing over with. But as neither of those were options it was back to discrediting Malfoy, but how?

_Damn._ Would she have to add Cissy in to her list of crimes?


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Yay, Chapter 3 is up! Sorry it took so long. I appreciate the reviews, favorites and, gawsh-you guys make me blush. (: I hope you keep enjoying the story despite how long it takes me to post chapters. Real life tends to get in the way; gross. I'm going on vacation for two weeks so even my beloved beta, Ducky, won't have an idea of what Chapter 4 is going to be like so please bear with me. -heart- you all!  
****-C**

**11Aug12 - I'm back from vacation ((I sat next to an Alan Rickman doppelganger on the flight home. Amusing to say the least, lol)) and I fear had I've had NO time to work on this story. 0.0 Now real life is getting in the way-I'm moving my permanent residence to a place not even yet built as well as having to pack to move back in to college so that's just fun...and David Bowie is infiltrating my brain. Please be patient at my slow-going. If anyone has any plot ideas I'd love to hear them!**

**October 2008**

Rafael Gaunt gazed out the large second-story window that overlooked the back part of his property; his wife was tending to her small flower garden which was the only normal thing she'd been doing lately. It wasn't as though he minded being shagged senseless every night and on the occasional morning, but it wasn't normal. Some small part of him told him to ignore it—perhaps she was actually coming around after all this time.

But he couldn't believe that. Not when it was blatantly obvious she was trying to distract him from something…he knew her far too well to know she'd ever come around and honestly, he was pretty sure he could live with that. Vienna was a useful tool; a pawn. One of the best, and probably his favorite, but far from the most observant—her lack of paranoia concerning him was her downfall, he reckoned. Or else it was that she had too much. Or maybe that she just didn't balance things well enough. _Perhaps she just isn't balanced. I swear the woman is on a never-ending PMS cycle. _

He turned around and made his way to his study, snapping his fingers for a house elf on the way; "Dripsy: breakfast in my study."

"Yes! Dripsy gets Master his breakfast!" moments later, a floppy eared house elf came and dropped a bowl of Rafe's guilty pleasure on the desk before him once he was seated.

Rafe looked expectantly at Dripsy.

"Oh, Dripsy a bad elf! Dripsy forgets the milk!" and so commenced the banging of Dripsy's head on the nearest bookshelf, which Rafe quickly put a stop to.

"You're going to give not only myself but _yourself_ a headache with that shit, Dripsy. Just go get the milk and take my pardon, yes?"

"Oh, Dripsy-"

"Dripsy goes to get it, is what Dripsy does," Rafe growled and the little elf popped out once more and returned with milk for the cereal, muttering to himself about talking like a house elf. Once the creature came back, he blandly thanked and sent Dripsy on his way.

_She can't be planning my downfall…I've ensured it would bring about hers as well. Maybe she is having an affair? I _will_ kill her._

He poured the milk into his cereal and glared at the donut-shaped bits of grain, huffing. _That bitch—thinking she could fool me? She is sorely mistaken. I swear…_

Rafe narrowed his eyes and flinched at the sound of approaching footsteps. He composed his face into a mask of cool indifference before the intruder to his solitude came into sight.

"Good morning, my sweet," came Vienna's voice from behind, accompanied by a kiss on his cheek before she walked around the table. She looked down to his cereal and smirked, "You know, Rafael, you can attempt to Crucio your Cheerios all you want but they will never scream for you. They are very resilient little things."

A snarl spread across his face, "You mean like you were last night and several nights preceding that? Screaming my name for all the world to hear…several… times…over?"

Vienna opened her mouth to retort but came up short; snapping her jaw shut and sitting down abruptly. She settled for glaring daggers at the man rather than sending any of the scathing remarks that were on her mind.

"Oh look at this," he taunted, "my wife is beginning to act like the proper pureblood that she is—learning when to keep her mouth shut and everything." _She had better be keeping her legs shut as well._

"Dripsy?" Vienna tapped her fingers absently on the table before her as she waited for the little house elf to appear.

"Yes, Mistress?" he bowed until his nose almost touched the floor.

"Could I bother you to get me some breakfast, Dripdrop?"

A grin that crumpled the little creature's features immediately presented itself at Mistress' pet name, "Most certainly! Most certainly! I goes to get your favorites!"

"Not a buffet, mind you—just something light. Please and thank you."

"So," he began once Dripsy had come and gone with a small bowl of fresh strawberries, a glass of milk, and a slice of toast with grape jelly. "May I inquire as to why I have the pleasure of breaking fast with you on this lovely October morn?"

"I suppose I simply felt like eating…I haven't felt well the past few days."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Why didn't you tell me? I could have sent for Healer Scrim."

"I didn't feel it was that bad, but perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to see him after all," she conceded.

"What are your symptoms?" he asked a little too harshly.

Vienna smiled weakly and let out a short mirthless laugh, "I figured that was for the Healer to know-"

"He'll appreciate forward information," he replied blandly.

"Well, just…sick. I'm not entirely sure…" Though she almost was sure of what was going on, and that frightened her; the tension that Vienna had felt once entered the room had increased to an almost palpable level now and she was almost positive she wouldn't be able to keep her food down.

"Really?" he spoke coldly and rose slowly from his seat. "You have been sick and yet you find time to go out and do things, things of which I am completely unaware of until you get home, and still have the energy to fuck until even…"

_Could she be pregnant?_ He wondered. _Is it a bastard child or is it mine?_

The air was becoming a little difficult to breathe for some reason—was it his magic? Was he trying to suffocate her? And where in the name of Merlin was this line of questioning going? His moods were getting more unpredictable day by day or maybe he was the same…maybe she was simply more afraid of his wrath because she knew there was a very distinct possibility of him finding things he need not know. She needed to take care of Lucius quickly.

"You whore," he breathed and Vienna felt her breakfast rise in her stomach once more but appeared nonplussed by the statement. "You manipulative, conniving little bitch!" And she found herself thrown back by the force of his hand flying across her face. She refused to give him the pleasure of her tears, a look of shock, or the cliché of placing her hand over the stinging region of her face. She figured it would only irritate it anyhow.

"I want to know, and you're going to tell me, exactly what is going on."

She took a calming breath and minutely pushed herself back from him, "I was going to demand the same thing, actually."

"CRUCIO!"

She hadn't even seen his hand go to his wand, though that was rather moot at this point. She writhed on the floor and tried not to scream but failed miserably as the force of the curse intensified and it felt as though she was being torn apart by millions of small, burning needles—this was worse than any other time he'd ever done this to her. Once the curse finally let up after what felt like an hour but was only a minute or so, Rafe began circling her like the predator he truly was.

"Are you ready to talk, _love_?" He snarled.

Vienna panted, tears streaming down her face but she snarled right back, "About what, _darling_?" Probably not her smartest move, and she inwardly acknowledged this as his next curse flew at her.

"Crucio!" Again she was on the floor, screaming and scratching at the floorboards. Her skull felt like it would explode at any moment and she was almost sure that her skin was ripping itself off, or something. Her throat had to be bleeding from all the screaming she was doing—this time he kept her under the Cruciatus until Fate seemed to take pity on her and allow her to black out.

"Well if you won't tell me, I suppose Scrim will," he smirked and levitated her body to the nearest guest room; so enamoured with his 'accomplishment' that he didn't notice the blood pooling between her legs and staining her skirt.

-o-o-o-

Rafe was pacing back and forth in front of the door; Healer Scrim was in with Vienna, seeing to her overall health after a random incident while out on a stroll. He was right about the old man being a bit attached to her—he came within minutes of being notified of her ordeal. Unfortunately the wizard wasn't so quick with everything else. It had been nearly three hours since he had shut the door—not a word. His already short fuse was beginning to burn at both ends. _The old git had better come out here soon._

And then he did.

"So?" Rafe immediately stopped pacing and looked at the Healer with the most concerned expression he could muster.

The older wizard took a deep breath and exhaled, taking off his spectacles and cleaning them with the hem of shirt, "She'll live…though I'm afraid she lost the baby." He looked up to gauge the reaction of the man before him, but all he saw was a mild loss of colour. "I'm sorry. However once she has a few days of rest and, as long as she takes the potions I've left with her, she should make a fully recovery and you two should be able to try again."

"Make sure it was mine."

By the look on the Healer's face, it was obvious he'd never been told such a thing so abruptly after telling a man his wife had just miscarried, though he wasn't one to ask questions. He grimly went back in the guest room and did a few spells over the bundle covering the body of the child that never made it past four months of conception. When he returned back to Rafe he gave the man a curt nod, "Yours. A boy."

"If that's all…?" Rafe muttered a bit brokenly. _I killed my son. I…I murdered my own son._

"If it's alright with you, Lord Gaunt, I wish to come check up on her in a week."

"That's fine," he said dismissively, now lost in his thoughts as he leaned against the wall, his hands covering his face.

"Take care," the old man said, lightly patting Rafe on the shoulder as he left.

_I murdered my son. I…I was provoked by that bitch. She kept pushing and pushing. She knew what would happen! She forced my hand. Then again it's possible she didn't know, oh gods…Now I know she hasn't been interfering with conception. Maybe we can try again. Oh gods, maybe that's been why she's been acting strange—she was pregnant! She's so fucking moody anyway it's hard to tell but—I'll fix this. We'll create a new heir. Perhaps I'll even keep her under surveillance to make sure she heals alright. I don't want anything happening to her, after all._

With this new line of thought, Rafe headed into his wife's room. She was sound asleep and looked like the very picture of death, it didn't help that the room smelled of blood and a bit of death. He turned his head slightly to the right to see a small bundle of towels covering a bloody little corpse: his son.

He slowly approached it and reached out to pull back a flap to see the child only to be disturbed by the sound of a scratchy, weak voice.

"I was pregnant, wasn't I?"

Rafe turned only his eyes so that he could see her and nodded slowly.

She took in a shaky breath. "What…what was-"

"A boy."

"Oh…" she breathed.

"We can try again," he straightened up and looked over at Vienna. "Once you're healed, we can actually work for a baby." He smiled at her.

_He's smiling. I just lost our baby because of him and he's smiling at me. Sick fuck. He wants to try again? I don't even know how I got pregnant with this one…but now that it—my son—he is gone…Rafael, you will pay for this._ Vienna closed her eyes and turned her head to one side, wishing she felt well enough to turn on her stomach and bury herself in the bed; just fall into the darkness and forget the whole day.

"I will be leaving someone in charge of you until your healing is complete, a'right V?"

"Yes, Rafe."

"Rest well, milady," he lightly kissed her forehead and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Vienna's rest was anything but restful. Though she had never wanted Rafe to be a father, she would never wish any child harm and knowing now that her suspicions were true, she felt incredibly empty. She had horrific nightmares about the cursing: _she saw the baby lying mangled and bloody in her arms, Rafe stood there laughing and then he cast a Sectumsempra at her wrists, causing her to drop the baby. When she'd try to scream nothing would happen. Rafe would only keep laughing and laughing. She fell back from the force of a Reducto curse he had aimed at the floor in front of her. Her head throbbed, her body ached…surely she was dying._

_ Vaguely, she felt the ground beside her dip and comforting arms encircle her. She looked over, "Severus?"_

_ And there he was, smiling and holding her, real as the day. "It's been you, hasn't it? Gods, Severus, help me."_

_ He stayed quiet, only searching her face with his dark, obsidian eyes. Finally he took out his wand and healed her wrists one by one, kissing them gently after the skin came together._

_ "Severus…he killed my baby," she cried. "He took the only thing good that I might have had in this world. I didn't think I'd want a child—especially with him as the father, but, Severus, oh shit! I could have run, I could have hidden. My baby and I…"_

_ The dark man next to her kissed her cheek; he was so warm, so comforting. His hands smoothed up and down her arms and his mouth placed slow, comforting kisses to her mouth which she returned with fervour. Vienna reached up to run her hands through his hair but found it much…silkier and longer….different, than she remembered. Suddenly something was wrong._

She opened her eyes, this time for real, and found herself in the arms of, and snogging, none other than Lucius Malfoy himself. Vienna pushed away from him and found she couldn't even curse him or scream. It was a bit too much of a shock.

"Well good afternoon, Vienna. This is most certainly not the welcome I had expected from you after our last meeting but I find I am," he paused and smiled a rather shark-like smile, "pleasantly surprised."

Vienna gingerly turned away from him and closed her eyes, "I cannot say the same. Have you no shame, Malfoy? I just lost my child, I've made myself _very_ clear how I feel about you, and we're both married."

"Are your concerns in that order?" he smirked, trying to lean over her.

Huffing, the witch attempted to sit up only to be hindered by a sharp pain in her abdomen. "The order of my concerns bear no consequence on the fact that they are _concerns_, you bastard," she gritted out, managing somehow to glare somewhat menacingly at him. "Besides the fact that I _hate_ you, my _dear_ husband would extract your entrails the Muggle way and pull those long strands of your prized locks out one by one; leaving you just alive enough to be set on display for all to see and allow you to live out the rest of your miserable life in 'freakish misery,' she smirked. '_To the pain.' Thank you Muggle, Cary Elwes._

Lucius raised a perfect brow at her and frowned as he propped himself up on an elbow. "That sounds rather…messy. Why not just disfigure me and be done with it?"

"Why should I take advice on your torture from you? That sounds ridiculous. Besides, the idea is to inflict pain _and_ humiliate."

"What if I enjoy the pain?" his tone, suggestive.

"Then you are a masochist and I would have to wonder if your services to Voldemort were more than just-"

"Perhaps it is _you_ that is the masochist, the way you provoke your husband, hm? Perhaps you enjoy the pain. Perhaps you want him to find out all of your secrets; it wouldn't surprise me the way you treat me—someone who holds _much_ power over how well your future can go. Maybe, just maybe you want this pain."

"Get out of my bed," she whispered angrily, gritting her teeth. "Get out of my room, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Tut tut, my dear," he chided, though obliged her first command. Lucius walked into what Vienna assumed to be the bathroom (just because it was 'her' room and 'her' house didn't mean she'd actually been in this room before) and came out with a few potion bottles. "I cannot do that. You see, I've been ordered by your husband to watch over you as you heal while he continues in his work. You need to take each of these…right about now, actually. How fortunate you awoke on your own."

"Why couldn't Cissy have done this?" she demanded angrily, attempting to sit up again. "Surely she is the better option!"

"She's busy for the next few weeks. And however ironic you may find it, I am the Dark Lord's most trusted servant."

"I'd rather have Harry Potter look after me; stick up his arse and all."

Lucius rolled his eyes and opened one of the potions and handed it to the obstinate witch, "This one is for the pain." She eyed him warily, but downed it. Once she was satisfied that it was actually relieving her pain and not killing her, she nodded for him to go on.

"This one is for internal healing." Another wary look followed by another drink, and then a shrug.

"This is for your blood loss."

She grimaced, "I wasn't given one of these when I was out? Blood Replenishing potions taste awful."

"Or I could force it down your throat," he offered off-handedly.

She drank it with a disgusted face, gagging after it was finished. "That was more wretched than usual! Ugh, did you do something to it?"

"And this is a Calming Draught for that already off-balance mood of yours."

Vienna rolled her eyes but drank it anyhow; she wouldn't mind feeling a bit leveled out at the moment anyhow. She knew that if she stopped bitching that the cold, empty feeling would return and she didn't want that, especially around Malfoy.

"And what is that?" she asked, pointing to the table next to her bed.

"Dreamless Sleep; Scrim added it in for good measure to help ease your stress while sleeping. Take it before you go to bed."

"Because I'm not already there," she snapped.

"Do you need a higher dose? Oh, wait…you should feel tranquil right about…now."

The witch's eyes glazed over slightly and she relaxed in her bed, simply nodding at whatever he had said; she wasn't quite sure what it was but she was certain she didn't care. As long as she had these potions the whole time Lucius was watching over her, she might actually be able to handle this.

"Oh there we are, docile as a doormat." He smoothed her hair back and sighed, looking up to the ceiling. "Why did this man insist on having a wife? Couldn't he have just been content with whores, like his predecessor?" The wizard shrugged and looked down at the usually venomous woman, "That's right, you used to be one. I doubt very much that would bother him though. Honestly it's the betrayal of the first Dark Lord that will likely get you killed; that you let his most loyal follower take the fall for you? Sure, a few Crucios and some other forms of torture unimaginable to even your twisted mind would be endured, but after that all would have been forgiven. Marcus truly was a loss. Nobody would have known about the initial betrayal if you didn't leak information to that _damn_ Order. That direct sin against Lord Gaunt? That will definitely get you killed. And all of this, for what, really? The love of a man long dead; the love you never had in the first place." He snarled down at her, "If your husband is anything like me, he is perfectly fine not having your heart, but if someone else has it, even if they are dead, he will cut out your beating heart with a silver spoon just to keep you from feeling."

Her only response was the slightest of frowns and unintelligible mumblings under her breath.

"Right then," a warm, soft hand caressed the side of her face that wasn't buried into the pillow. "If you need anything else, pet, I won't be going anywhere." He sat on the edge of her bed and examined her almost-sleeping form only to find himself immediately on his feet at the approaching footfalls of his Lord.

"Lucius? Good, you're still here. How has she been?"

"Perfect, milord."

"I know my wife better than that, Lucius," an amused smirk crossed the features of the wizard.

"A thorn in my side," he smiled rather falsely and rolled his eyes. "My respect for you every time that I deal with her."

"She can be a right bitch, let there be no room left for doubt about that," Rafe smoothed his hair back, "I need you to deal with her entirely on your own for a couple days. Everyone else is being sent out on missions and I need to oversee their success."

"Really? You moved up the Gringotts and Ollivander's-"

"I moved up a small handful of missions. The men were growing restless from lack of activity and lack of wands," a small vase broke under the force of his annoyance. "So if you could just stay in here with her; Floo Scrim if you think something's gone awry."

"That can be done easily enough."

"See that it is," Rafe took a moment to look past the blond and gaze at Vienna. "She looks awful," he snarled, "Watch her closely. If she hasn't improved by the time I return you will pay." The floor groaned beneath his boots as he turned on his heel and left, shutting the door rather loudly behind him.

Lucius looked over at Vienna and then to the small bundle off to the side and grimaced, "Well this won't aid in your recovery, now will it, my dear? I'll remove this little specimen for you. I suppose I'll have to leave you momentarily…I'll have none of that mischief you're so fond of while I'm out." Gingerly, he picked up the thing and left the room—he figured Rafe would want it buried or taken care of in capacity resembling something like propriety. He'd have to ask Dripsy if he had any idea.

That was not a conversation he wanted Vienna to possibly overhear, especially since his wellbeing was now tied to hers.

-o-o-o-

A strange feeling overcame Vienna as she slept; the feeling she was being watched. _Of course you're being watched, you dimwit. Lucius is here._ She snorted at herself; indeed that had to be it. Lucius was staring at her in his strange, perverse way to make her as uncomfortable as possible.

_But didn't he leave? I never heard him come back…_

_ Of course not, you've been asleep._

To stop the internal argument with herself, Vienna opened her eyes and scanned the room for any sign of the silver-haired wizard. "Nothing, really? I could have sworn…" She closed her eyes once more only to have a painful shiver travel up her spine. "Shit," she groaned.

_Something's off. _Rather than yelling out, which would only alert any possible intruders of her position, she grabbed for her wand. "Homenum Revlio."

No one. _Maybe I'm just paranoid._

She closed her eyes yet again and sighed, opening her eyes at a sudden realization. "My baby is gone. That pansy took my baby!" Several deep breaths later she calmed herself and reasoned that it was for the best; "Can't have dead babies lying around. That would be most depressing…" A tear escaped her eyes which she quickly swiped away at, laughing humorlessly, "Wouldn't mind being a widow, though."

A creaking noise caused her to nearly jump out of her skin; her eyes darted to the source in the darkest corner of the room. Breathing suddenly became a bit difficult as something in her throat caught at the sight of the most familiar outline. "S-Severus?" she choked out, shaking. It couldn't possibly be though. "Severus, is…how can that be…I saw you die. I held your dead body—it can't be you."

But as the figure stepped forward oh-so-slightly, she couldn't deny it; he was so much the same only very different. Many of the worry lines on his face had smoothed out, his colouring was healthier than she'd ever seen it, and by the gods there was just something about his face that was…different. "Severus," a statement, no longer a question.

Still no acknowledgement that she had so much as spoken; she punched the bed in frustration.

"Has it been you all this time that I've been seeing? Have you been following me?" she held out her hand as a means of beckoning him closer and a gesture of peace, "I'm hardly angry, I just want to know. Tell me I'm not crazy, love. Let me know you are real."

The man, hallucination, or whatever he was, looked at her blankly.

"Dammit man, is it to be like this again?" her face contorted in a mix of rage and sorrow, "Are you so above me in your morals that my survival through becoming the new Dark Lord's wife gains me nothing but your apathy yet again? You were pet to _two_ feckin' opposing masters at the same time! You are in no position to judge me, you great bat! I'm doing what it takes to survive! I already tried saving people and it didn't turn out so well, now did it? I have to look out for myself now," she took a deep calming breath and narrowed her eyes, "And I'll be _damned_ before I let you make me feel bad about it." A strange calm, dizzying, and black sensation came over her before she fell into a dark, restful sleep.

A sigh came from the man before disappearing from the room, "You always have been."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: My deepest apologies for the long wait. I'm sorry that this chapter isn't any longer than it is but it didn't want to be. For what I've planned though, the chapters should be getting longer soon. Mwahaha :) I'm still in the process of moving. I'll be settled by Aug 25th so if I haven't posted by then, I will shortly thereafter. So much and thank you for the reviews! And let's not forget a thank you for the fantastic Ducky beta!  
As a side note, there is a mention of abortion in this chapter; I'm not condoning or condemning it. This most certainly isn't the forum to discuss those sorts of topics-it's just part of the story. Just a friendly heads up.**

xxMrsBelieber69xx - I'm glad you like it!

**October 2008**

The woman lay there between the nightmare-driven, sweat-soaked sheets staring at him blankly. Lucius Malfoy found himself surprisingly unnerved by her piercing gaze and rose from his seat beside her to pace across the room; feeling her eyes follow him all the while. Even the previous Dark Lord never made him _this_ uncomfortable, but the previous Dark Lord was not a woman, an attractive woman—nor was he a woman entrusted into his care by a Dark Lord. Perhaps had he been alone he might have stopped in his pacing to ponder that strange thought, but as it were he needed to shake her ever-watchful eye. He heaved a sigh and met her empty stare with his cold eyes, "Milady, is there something on your mind?"

Vienna blinked rapidly and took a deep breath, turning to face away, "No, Malfoy. Simply hard pressed for sleep."

"Ah. Well perhaps you could find something else to do rather than stare at me?"

A very unladylike snort came from the bed, "Honestly?" She turned around and raised a delicate brow, "You are _uncomfortable_ by my stares? I should think, by the way you make advances on me, that you would be enthralled! Or is it very much one thing to say and another thing to actually do?"

He heard the challenge in her voice and had to take a calming breath, "Remember your _condition_, milady." Hopefully the low blow would shut her up. For good measure he added, "And the reason."

It seemed to work; she huffed and turned to the other side once more, presenting that delicious back to him. After several lecherous thoughts passed and there was no further word or action from the childless mother (which he felt a pang of sympathy for; he knew how the miscarriages had affected Narcissa), he sat down in a chair by the hearth and summoned a book to flip through.

About an hour later the doors flew open and Lucius rose quickly only to fall into a bow, "Lord."

Rafe acknowledged the wizard with a nod and continued on past him toward his wife and knelt next to her with a look of hard scrutiny on his face. Moments passed by that felt as hours to the eldest living Malfoy before a word was spoken.

"Her colour is better, marginally but we will discuss this later. Leave us." A long pause followed which was only interrupted by Lucius' quietly shutting the door to the room. When Rafael finally spoke, it was in a tone that he had never used before; a sort of genuine gentleness. "Vienna, my dear, are you awake? Darling?" He ran a palm lightly over one side of her face as her eyes fluttered open to reveal the darkest of glares reserved only for the hated.

"Ah, there were are," a light kiss was placed upon her brow. "Do you feel alright?"

"Brilliant," she sneered, not caring for the concern after the fact. He was probably just upset that he'd killed a potential heir. No remorse for the act itself. "Simply brilliant; you kill my child and leave me with _him_."

It was a bit of a strain, but he refrained from rolling his eyes, "Duly noted, though I was under the impression you got on well with Lucius."

"Of course I do," _liar. _"But he's a man. Do you really think I want the company of any male at the moment?"

A moment of dawning crossed the man's face as he nodded, "I see, I see. Well, love, tough shit."

Not the response she expected.

"Lucius is the only person I trust with your care at the moment, other than myself. Granted, you still look like shit-"

"Oi!" she protested, finally bringing herself up to a sitting position with minimal pain.

"Well, you do. And for that, I will have to _talk_ to Malfoy about that; I'll see that you are better taken care of. You look as though you have hardly gotten any rest at all."

She couldn't tell him it was because she'd been seeing Severus—or dreaming of him…or hallucinating. And she couldn't…she just couldn't very well defend herself at the moment. In lieu of defense, she grunted and rolled her eyes, lying back down. "Bastard," she muttered.

"Now, now, Lady; that's not a fact we like to broadcast about my pedigree. And if that was about Lucius, everyone knows that is _entirely_ untrue. As for you, I cannot vouch, but I can't say as though I care."

This little spiel earned him another dark glare to which he only smirked. "Let me get a Dreamless Sleep for you, won't you?"

"Do I even get a choice?"

"Not really."

_**February 1993**_

_"The potion hasn't taken effect yet?" the smooth baritone of Severus Snape's voice was soothing to Vienna's raging migraine as opposed to any voices of those 'incompetent, judgmental Healers' at St. Mungo's; his words, not her own. (He had been referring to their abilities and not their voices, of course.) "You stubborn chit, I can't give you a much higher dosage."_

_ The stubborn chit in question rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh; laughing led to coughing which led to fits, blood, and perhaps another broken rib which he would have to mend. Honestly, she didn't think he would mind; only worry. Something was wrong with her and he couldn't figure out what in the name of any given god it was._

"_Vienna, if you can, tell me what hurts."_

"_Your arse, if I don't get better soon," she grinned weakly, quickly continuing, "My back…radiating, intense; my bloody throat; my head for all the coughing-" and that was as far as she got before the coughs took over and wracked her body. Severus held her in a sitting position so she wouldn't have to strain so much and waited patiently, it was all he could do. Everything he'd tried had only made things worse on her._

_Once the coughing subsided and Severus had Scourgified the blood, Vienna turned to look at him with pleading eyes, "Muggle clinic." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, a plea._

"_Gods no," he sneered, "What the hell more would they know than us?"_

_The witch in his arms tensed and fixed him beneath her most piercing gaze, speaking with a wavering and gravelly voice; nostrils flaring, "Have you been withholding treatment?"_

"_Of course not…"_

"_Has it even-" she stifled a cough, "—occurred to you that this could be a muggle illness?"_

"_Are you muggleborn?" There was no inflection of emotion in his question._

"_No. If you must know, I'm pureblood, but in America it is hardly an issue. I grew up around muggles and went to a muggle—" she broke into another fit of coughing, this one causing tears to leak from her eyes. Something in the cold man gave way and he conceded._

_ "Let me arrange for a portkey to the Americas. Where would you have records?"_

_ "Iowa," she rasped._

_ "Where the bloody fuck—how in Merlin's name did you end up—nevermind. I'll arrange for it," he muttered and pinched the bridge of his nose. After taking a moment to breathe he looked over at the fragile woman sitting in the bed, "Just nod and for your own sake, this had better be a 'yes': any place in the middle of Nowhere, America will work?"_

_ Following a dramatic roll of the eyes she nodded and Snape left._

_ Vienna didn't remember much between that moment and seeing a familiar 'Mercy' sign; for this she was eternally grateful. She didn't fare well with portkeys when she felt well; heaven help her when she felt like shit._

_ It was a three hour wait in the lobby of the ER with a very grumpy Snape muttering of the incompetence of all healthcare workers, and another two hour wait in the room she had been assigned. In there, Snape felt he could be a little more vocal about how displeased he was with the state of things. Eventually, however, under the burning gaze of his witch—_My witch? When did that start?—_he settled down into a chair. _

_ Finally a tall man in a white coat came in, shaking hands and asking the most _ridiculous _questions. "How are you feeling today, Miss…Trotter?"_

_ How she was able to keep from cursing the man into the next millennia, he would never understand—then again the next millennia weren't all that far away. Perhaps it wasn't worth the effort. And then the man sent in _other_ people to stick needles in her. Yes, he was a half-blood, but he was far more accustomed to doctors doing their own work and now even more accustomed to Healers._

_ About an hour later the doctor came in looking a little grim as he sat down. For a moment Severus almost felt smug, thinking the man had no idea what was going on either._

_ "Miss Trotter, have you been living in cramped quarters since your pregnancy?"_

_ Severus looked over at her with an eyebrow quirked, but inside he was fuming at her, wondering how she could be daft enough to get herself pregnant._

_ She choked a little, trying to suppress a cough, "P-pregnant?"_

_ The doctor pursed his lips and looked down at his papers, "Yes. Though I'm afraid you won't carry this child to term with, well that's my next bit of news; you have TB. If caught early enough that isn't usually a problem but it seems-"_

_ "Get rid of it," she mumbled, low and cold._

_ Both men's brows rose but it was the doctor that spoke, "Pardon, Miss?"_

_ "Get rid of the baby, just…end it," her fists clenched the edge of the bed she sat on until they blanched._

_ Carefully eying up the man in the chair, the doctor spoke slowly to Vienna, "Are you sure you don't wish to think on this some more? This is an awfully big decision, after all—you've just found out you're pregnant it seems. Surely," he nodded towards Severus, "the _father_ might want some input?"_

_ "I can assure you, sir, it is _not_ mine," Snape replied cooly._

_ "Oh, I apologize. Are you _her_ father then?"_

_ It took all of his effort not to pinch the bridge of his nose at this man's tactless approach at information gathering, "I am no relation of her's; only a concerned acquaintance."_

_ A curt nod, "On that note-" he turned his attention back to the patient who was looking very strained at the moment, "—shall we discuss treatment methods?"_

_ "Fix it," tears were forming, "please. Just do what needs to be done."_

**October, 2008**

Vienna awoke choking back a sob for the child she had given up on all those years ago. Thankfully no one was around to watch her curl into herself as she screamed into a pillow. _I could have carried it to term, he didn't say I wouldn't. Just because it was Barty's didn't mean…oh that poor child. My baby—my babies; both of my babies, killed before they even had a chance._

_ But with the fathers they had?_ Part of her tried reasoning.

_Surely Severus would have helped raise Barty's. He was there for me through so much.  
Because it was a Hogsmeade weekend that he didn't have to chaperone.  
But he helped me through so much more—when he had any spare time he'd come see me in the hospital!_

_There's really no way of knowing._

It seemed she could agree with herself on that note; there was no way of knowing what might have been.

She punched the pillow beside her face and screamed into it once more; angry with the world for what it had done, what it had given and what it had taken away.

"That is no way for a lady to act," came a smooth, baritone, nearly-familiar voice that made her bolt upright and look around the room as a meerkat popping up from its tunnels, looking for danger. _No one._

"What could possibly have you in such a state, _Vienna_?" warm breath tickled her ear and she turned to see Severus' likeness yet again, only this time he was speaking to her. Should she be relieved? _He is dead after all, so this has to be a hallucination._

"So it _is_ possible to shock you into silence without harming you; I wonder if your _beloved_ husband knows of this?" he paused, presumably waiting for a response, though he didn't get one. "Do you speak coherently, girl? I know you have a voice—you've been using it, not well, but I am certainly aware of its presence."

Vienna stared blankly at him a moment before finding her ill-used voice, "Severus?"

"Listen, she speaks. Is there some other dead lover that should be visiting you in the middle of the night?"

"That's just it," she leaned towards him and reached out, "You died, Severus."

"Just as well," he straightened up before her fingers could even brush against the stubble on his face.

"So," she let her hand fall limply to her side, "you're a hallucination?"

"Try again," he sneered.

"A ghost?"

"Surely I would have better things to do than float around here for the rest of whatever," he deadpanned.

Vienna looked at him helplessly, tears in her eyes, "But I saw you die—I held you. I felt it…I…"

"You what?" the man loomed over her, causing her to fall back on the bed, "you _felt_ me die?"

"I tried everything," she whispered.

He sighed, "Not quite. Not as much as your dear brother did after he took you some place safe."

"Marcus?" a mix of betrayal and confusion, "Marcus saved you?" It made sense enough, she supposed.

"Yes and no," he sighed, seeming to let down his obstinate barrier, "He allowed Severus Snape to die and this," he gestured to himself, "to rise from the ashes. I am every bit Severus Snape but…not."

The witch did her best to comprehend but was at a loss, "I'm afraid that I don't understand."

"Of course not," he rolled his eyes. "Severus Snape is a traitor in every sense of the word-"

"But-"

"Do not try to speak of things you do not understand, girl," he gently began massaging his temples, "No matter if I survived I would have been killed, no matter where I went. Your brother knew of your…attachment to me. He took pity and gave me a new name, a new face, a new life. And for that I shall forever be in a debt I cannot repay." He looked up at her and grimaced, "The best I can do is be sure you don't get yourself killed."

She propped herself up on her elbows, feeling the need to be closer to him but at the same time feeling that trying to get too close would scare him away after all this time—especially considering what she was about to propose: "We can run away. Severus, we can leave here together and go to some obscure place, live ridiculous—live like muggles-never be found." Her voice never rose above a whisper for fear of someone just outside the door; she would speak to Severus without fear, but speak of escape and she became hushed.

"Quiet your tongue, foolish child!"

She almost pouted, but realized this would only reinforce his belief of her as 'childish'. After several moments of silence she finally snapped, "Fine! What would you have us do, then?"

"Us?" he nearly laughed, "What do you mean 'us'?"

Vienna took a deep breath, "I mean you and I. '_Us_'." She sneered, sitting upright, "I know you love me as I love you, you great bat!" she hissed. "Deny it all you want, but I've had many years to reflect and there is _no way_ you would have stood with me through all of that shit if you didn't love me."

After several moments of staring into the molten silver of her passionate eyes, he began laughing. _Laughing._ A full belly laugh; Vienna just stared on in something akin to fury.

It took a while but he did calm down, and he spoke with the kindest smile she'd ever seen, "My dear, why don't you rest?"

"All I do is rest," she said softly. "I've yet to do anything."

"In good time."

"Then let me sleep the normal…er…natural way?"

He nodded, "I'll wait for you."

-o-o-o-

A light breeze flitting across her face woke Vienna from her slumber. When she opened her eyes, it was to darkness with but a few rays of moonlight streaking in from the windows of her gilded cage and she was so utterly alone, or she thought she was until she looked over the side of the bed to see her 'new' Severus slumped over on the floor. She smiled softly and reached out to stroke the dark locks of his hair but was intercepted rather abruptly by the man himself; he was very real: his grip bruising.

"What," he paused, "do you think you are doing?" His unmistakable eyes turned to her, no anger—only curiosity burning brightly.

Resisting the urge to whimper, she managed to reply. "I was going to run my fingers through your hair. I wanted to see if it felt the same. To be honest I wasn't all that sure you were real."

He nodded, slowly releasing her wrist one finger at a time as he stood. "Don't you remember how unwise it is to poke the lion in the cage?"

"Since when have you considered me wise?" she replied wryly, gently stroking his hand with her now freed one. "And if I recall correctly, it is I that is the lion in the cage; you are free to come and go as you please."

As though burned, he pulled away, "Caged? Caged in your _husband's _manor indeed; I'm sure you have led a terribly unforgiving life since we last parted."

"You think I wanted this?" _Now who is poking the caged lion?_ "You think I married him for _this_?"

"For love then?" he calmly accused.

"For _England!_" she stopped to calm herself, "Not quite so literally perhaps…though the mindset is all the same; I did this to save my life and the life of my brother. You know my transgressions against Voldemort during the Final Battle—and with Rafael on the rise someone was sure to come forward."

"You cannot _transgress_ against the Dark Lord unless you believe in him," he sneered.

"Believe in him—his cause? Perhaps not. But at the time I was so consumed with anger and hatred toward you and _fear_ of what I'd gotten myself into; that is enough."

"What of this cousin, how does he compare?"

Vienna sighed and lay on her side, facing the looming man. "He's…calculating. I think he's biding his time and making connections so no one suspects him. It's working too fucking well…though he should steer clear of _Malfoy_ if he wants to keep that up."

"And why is that?"

"Because he's a liability."

"More of a liability than yourself?" he quirked a brow.

"Of course. He's on the side of no one but his own backstabbing, mother_fucking_ side."

"I see. And you're not?"

Affronted, "What? What are you suggesting?"

He reached out and lightly held on to her upper arm, making reassuring circles with his thumb on her bared skin, "Only that you do what keeps you alive; you certainly watch out for yourself. Really, my dear, what have you done for the 'greater good'?"

"I married this git, at least with me in his life he-"

"He has different sort of frustrations mounted upon the ones he would have had already?"

"Fine, if you think I do so little good, grant my request." She took his hand and brought it up to her lips, lightly kissing his palm. "Take me away from here. Let's escape this insanity and let the rest of the world run its course; the greater good be damned."

"I've noticed your fascination with damnation," he commented lightly.

"Because it comes down to us and them, and personally I would prefer myself to be free."

A small smile crossed his face, "And your true colours show so beautifully. Why bother disguising them?" Though his words may come across as condescending, Vienna knew from past experience that it was, in his own way, a compliment.

Her eyes closed as she inhaled deeply; he still smelled of herbs and all that was essentially him, though there was something a little off. It was probably to be expected though. Severus' hands were calloused, though not so much as they once were—probably due to not having to deal with 'dunderheaded students' and working for multiple masters on a daily basis. Just as she had relaxed she heard footsteps approaching her door and opened her eyes to find him…

_Gone_.

And where his hand had been: _Nothing._

"Vienna!" the beautiful, lilting, worried voice of Narcissa Malfoy couldn't come at a worse time. "Oh, my sweet girl, I was so worried!"

_I'm beginning to worry too,_ she mused inwardly. _Am I mad? Why can't he stick around for Cissy to see or at least Lucius? God…has he even been near when Lucius is? Right, that's probably not safe for him. Lucius would turn him in, wouldn't he? But they were friends, so…_

Narcissa crossed the room to envelope the younger witch in her comforting embrace and kiss her temple, "My dear, I am so sorry; so, so sorry. If there is anything you need—anything at all, you know who you can come to."

_Do I dare trust her with this? What if Lucius drags it from her? Bloody hell, she already knows a little…_

"But you know," she stepped back a bit to get a good look at Vienna's pale face, "I do wish you would just heed my warnings and not play these games with the Dark Lord; gods above he seems to be slowly slinking his way into that role more so every day." A troubled heart, a worried soul, and a pleading maternal instinct.

"_Mum_," Vienna tried to joke lightly, but it was easy to tell that something was troubling her, "I take your warnings into consideration with every decision I make."

The blonde sat on the edge of the bed and took her friend's hand in both of hers, "What is it you're hiding?"

"So perceptive," Vienna hedged, laughing nervously as the Malfoy matron's eyes seemed to stare into her soul. With a sigh of defeat she sat up and scooted closer, speaking in a low voice: "I saw…I saw _him_ again. Just before you came here, and a night or two ago. The days are a bit of a blur here, honestly I'm not sure when I see him, but I know it's _him_. _He's_ been here, Cissy! He's going to take me away," her voice rose in excitement, eyes sparkling with hope, "I have my-"

A sharp sting across her cheek startled her out of her reverie and she stared, shocked, at Naracissa—_her _ Cissy.

"Stop this at once," the woman chastised in a harsh whisper, "I am sure we've been over this before. Don't you realize such fantasies can get you _killed_? My sweet, naïve girl…you need to throw him from your memory and stop these, these fascinations! Severus Snape is dead." She reached out and caressed the long tresses of the woman-child's hair, "I, myself, burned his body. There is no way he can come back, my love. Not even as a ghost. His bones, his flesh—everything—it's all ashes. It was his wish."

"But my brother…" Vienna began slowly, "My brother saved him and-"

"Where did you hear this?" Narcissa calmly inquired.

"From Severus," she replied meekly.

"I see. Vienna, how many times has the Dark Lord cursed you…that is…how many times have you been cursed altogether?"

She recoiled, immediately reading the implications into Narcissa's words. "I am _not_ Bellatrix! I am _not_ crazy!" _Famous last words._ "I am _nothing_ like that bint. I have every bit of my sanity; I know what I saw."

"Vienna, I hate to say this but you are more like my late sister than you will ever understand." Solemnly, Narcissa bowed her head, "She wasn't always a crazy bitch, you know-I know, I know, language, but what other words truly describe her after—_especially_ after she broke free from Azkaban? There was a time when I looked up to her. I idolized that girl, I wanted to _be_ her. She was beautiful, she was perfect, she knew how to get anything out of anyone. Bella was the perfect Pureblood; the perfect sister." She laughed softly, "That's not to say we didn't fight. We three—Andromeda is my sister as well, you know who she is I'm sure—fought like hellcats sometimes. Over silly, droll things until…until Teddy came along, I think."

"The muggle," Vienna supplied quietly to which Narcissa only nodded.

"Is this why you spend so much time with me—I remind you of your old Bella?" There was no anger or indignation, curiosity and a bit of pity perhaps, but nothing negative.

When the older of the two only offered a shrug, Vienna pulled her into a hug and smiled warmly. "Oh, Mum. And you're the one accusing _me_ of being a headcase?" she joked. Both of the women laughed and sat in a companionable silence, simply embracing.

-o-o-o-

"Cissy," Vienna lifted the covers up over her head yet again for what had to be the third time that night. "I have another question before you go to sleep."

The witch rolled her eyes and lifted the covers over her head as well as she turned to face the talkative young woman, "Is this what Bella felt like when _we_ had to share beds? No wonder the poor chit went crazy." After a long pause, she apologized hurriedly and asked for her companion to continue.

"Have you been aware that Lucius is slipping truth serums to you?"

"Ugh, devil take it! What do you mean?" Narcissa sat up and pulled the covers off both their heads. "For what purpose?"

"He's been slipping Veritaserum to you somehow to find out about me. He told me so," Vienna huffed indignantly.

"Who? Severus?"

"No, _Lucius_."

"Sweetheart, you're paranoid. And fantasizing about my husband? Scandalous."

Vienna rolled her eyes, seeing that this was going nowhere and turned to her side, facing away from Narcissa. "Whatever you say. Goodnight, Cissy."

"Goodnight, love." _Whatever would put those thoughts in her head?_ She wondered. She wondered why the Dark Lord needed Lucius so often, she wondered why the closest thing she had to a daughter was accusing Lucius of interrogating her, she wondered where Vienna got these fanciful ideas, she wondered if the girl could untangle herself from this mess before it was too late, and she wondered how Draco was.

Draco was married now. He had a wife, and if rumors proved to be true, that wife was pregnant…with _her_ grandbaby.

The grandchild she'd never get to see because she made a choice; she stayed with Lucius. _Funny, that; one little decision made for someone I thought loved me ended up causing me to lose more than I could have ever hoped to gain._

_ Gone._


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: A treat! A treat! I got this finished and and had my beta look at it a little earlier than I expected and I figured I may as well post it before the hullaballo of moving into my dorm sets in. Again, I'd like to thank you for the faves, reviews, and follows. (: They make me happy! As I keep writing this story, I'm realizing there's really no good way to categorize this story. It's not like I've had any complaints about it, but at its core it is a Snape/OC fic..Snape's just...in and out a lot. I hope you enjoy anyway...just something Ducky and I were discussing. Oh yes, thanks Duckybeta, for reading this over and so quickly at that. All my best to you readers and have fun reading.  
-C**

**October, 2008**

"Get a move on, you git," Rafe sneered at a rather large, burly wizard. "Must I do everything myself?" At present, the younger but more visually intimidating wizard had Garrick Ollivander's throat under his heel; completely defenseless.

The other wizard, consequently, Antonin Dolohov, held in a snort of contempt and offered to trade places with his new master. "Perhaps, Lord, it might just be easier to bring the lot of 'em back 'an have all the men who need 'em try 'em out there?"

Rafe shrugged and waved his own wand, banishing all the other wands to his residence for the time being.

Nothing happened.

"Fuck it!" he growled, "Wards." His attention turned to the man on the floor, "Tell me how to take these blasted things down."

Ollivander, never a man to risk his own skin obeyed and soon all wands in stock were sent to their intended location. The old wizard was promptly Obliviated and had his memories modified. After a questioning look from Dolohov, Rafe explained; "We can't very well just off the best and most compliant wandmaker. You dolts might get your wands broken or…say none of the wands we've taken will fit to your will, then where would we be? Besides, he's harmless. He just donated his entire stock to a needy wizarding community in the middle of Africa."

The larger wizard nodded and flung the unconscious man into the now emptied shelves of his business before Disapparating. But one meek voice piped up from the small group. "Milord?"

"Yes, young Shacklebolt?" the Minister's niece—one of his favourite acquisitions.

"They don't use wands there…if I may make a suggestion, perhaps he donated them to several orphanages in Wizarding Russia?"

He looked as though he might kill the young woman for a moment before he finally conceded. "Make it so. This is your specialty, after all. From here on I want you to come up with memory modifications for our missions and come to me for confirmation should we need them. Am I understood?"

"Yes, milord."

Once Rafe was sure all of his followers had vacated the premises he, too, made himself scarce. He wouldn't bother checking on those working on the Gringott's mission because it simply wouldn't do if something were to go wrong; Potter would then have his perfect opportunity to try taking him down. Couldn't have that. Instead he decided to pop in on his slumbering wife only to find she wasn't slumbering. No, she had the covers pulled over her head and was talking to someone else who was doing the same…in her bed. Without further thought he aimed his wand at the second form on the bed. "_Crucio_," he whispered with all the hate and anger he held within him and to his delight, an almost feminine scream hit his ears immediately. Pain really was _such_ a strong and exquisite feeling to feed from. He closed his eyes and reveled in the moment until he felt a delicate hand smack him across the face. He barely flinched.

"Stop!" his pretty little wife pleaded, "Stop hurting her!"

He didn't. Instead he turned to the little dark-haired witch next to him and glared at her accusatorily, "Why? Why should I let your _lover_ go?"

Vienna's eyes widened considerably as she flexed her hand, restraining herself from slapping the bastard once more. "If you had _any _sense at all Rafael, you'd know that isn't the case! But no, you walk into everything half-cocked and ready to start a fight. Release. _Narcissa. _Now," she hissed, eyes glinting almost as dangerously as his.

And so he did. "It's nice to see you're feeling better," he remarked off-handedly, ignoring Narcissa's groans. "Look at you-out of bed and with some of that beautiful colouring back," he ran a hand quickly down the side of her face, retreating before she could try harming him. Gods knew she would—she was angry; angry was a good look for her, especially considering her previous condition. She had him worried before, though he'd never admit it to her face. But really, illness suited the woman horrifically.

His little hellcat took a few deep breaths, sending him the most hateful looks as she walked to her Cissy to be sure that she was alright. She hadn't been under his Cruciatus very long, but it didn't take long to have lasting effects, especially with the negativity that man held. She rubbed calming circles on the back of one the older woman's hands as she held them in both of hers and muttered something that sounded none too friendly.

"What was that, dear?" Rafe smiled sardonically.

"I said," she spoke up, irritated, "that 'Narcissa had only been worried about me and only stayed to watch over me. You thank her like _this_?'"

"Well she shouldn't have been in your bed, Vienna. She's lucky she got away with a Cruciatus, I could have easily Avada'd her."

"If I had my wand…" she snarled, letting the rest of the threat remain unspoken, but it rang loud enough between the two of them and Narcissa trembled from the dark magic emanating from the man.

"You think you can best me?" he growled, stepping towards the bed, "You think that because you're my wife I'll let you get by with those petty little threats?" He cocked a brow and shook his head.

Vienna rolled her eyes.

"Obviously, these four years I've been too lenient…something I intend to rectify."

"You arrogant-" she never finished that sentence because it seemed her body had a mind of its own; her arm reared back and her hand flattened out to slap that son-of-a-bitch, but it never hit its intended target.

He turned his wand on Vienna. Between screams and gasps for breath, she silently thanked God that her husband's anger wasn't focused on Cissy. She wasn't sure that the older witch could withstand more of the fiery needles tearing her skin apart as knives twisted around inside her organs; the raw, bloody feeling of her throat as she screamed again and again. Now the hailstones. When would this end? Wasn't it time for him to lecture—ask for an explanation? Didn't he remember this was the reason they were in the situation they had settled into in the first place? This was why she was childless. _Are the hellhounds tearing at my arms?_ She wondered vaguely, gasping.

And then there was nothing. Finally, a sweet sensation of nothing…nothing but a dull, resounding pain…and a spike through her skull. _God help me!_

"Vienna," a sharp voice cut through her recovery. "Vienna, I want you to listen and I want you to listen carefully."

She opened her eyes to see, not the face of her husband, but the face of the Dark Lord, scowling down at her.

"You will _not_ strike me again, do you understand?"

She blinked. _When did his eyes become so black?_

"Vienna!"

She jumped.

"Do you understand?" he spat, shaking her ragdoll body.

She nodded dazedly.

"Good. Now that we have established you're not deaf, let's see if you are not stupid…or at least if you can comprehend the concept I'm about to present to you."

Even through the blur of her pain, Vienna found herself able to resent that and tried sitting up, making scratching sounds with her throat in protest.

Rafe looked over at her little display and smirked, "Oh, do stop it, V. Just let me talk for once,"

Apparently he had immobilized and silenced her because she found herself unable to make even her scratching noises or move more than her eyes. _Damn._

"I know we have had many _disagreements_ throughout our union, my love. But I have never strayed from our marital vows or our bed. I have, _perhaps_, dealt with some of your misdeeds a little harsher than you saw fit but as your husband and _master_ I see this as something completely within my rights. Imagine my pain then, when I walk in here and see you in bed with another." He paced around her and approached her bed, "Lady Malfoy or not, it appeared to be you being unfaithful to me…" his voice trailed off as he looked down to the wide-eyed, nearly frozen form of Narcissa Malfoy. Rafe's brows rose slightly, mumbling something to himself.

The wizard took out his wand and ran a quick spell over Narcissa to be sure that no long-term injury had been incurred and nodded before looking oddly at Vienna. "Let this be a lesson to you in what should happen, should you decide to stray from my side, my dear. Though don't expect it to end nearly so well as today."

She nodded, her eyes focused carefully on his tie—those eyes. _Those eyes! What the hell is wrong with his eyes?_

He grabbed her rather forcefully by the chin and waited until she finally met his eyes and what he saw there in those silver orbs of hers, he relished; absolute fear. _Almost broken._ "But we won't have any problems, will we?" he whispered gently.

Vienna shook her head as best she could, too afraid to speak. And when he kissed her, so fiercely that she knew she would bruise, she cried again; vowing once more to herself to bring this son of a bitch down no matter what. And he felt it. He felt something in her change as he kissed her.

He pulled back quickly and tried searching her mind but he was no Voldemort just yet and she was taught by one of the best Occulmens; "What _have_ you done?" he whispered softly, stroking her lips with the pad of his thumb. "You're still hiding something. Don't think that I've forgotten."

She swallowed her fear and shook her head, once more, as best as possible under his grip. "Not."

"We'll see."

-o-o-o-

"Vienna, I don't care what you think. I'm not staying here any longer—it's not safe." Narcissa turned to glare at the young woman in the bed, now looking pale and sickly as ever. "Merlin, don't you see what happens—don't you see what will happen? Are you suicidal?"

"Perhaps," came the dry, exhausted reply of the very exhausted witch in question.

"Honestly child, you are going to end up just like Bella, I swear it!" There was no lightness to her tone; no quirk of her body language to say that she might be jesting. Narcissa sat up very carefully and looked at Vienna, "You worry me, Vienna Althea. You think you have that man wrapped around your finger when in fact you only have the string that releases that time bomb's pin!"

"Narcissa…Marie…" Narcissa repressed a smile—it would be the thirtieth time she told that girl that her middle name was _not_ 'Marie', but she would allow it this time. It was expected after all, when she brought out Vienna's middle name, some godforsaken muggle middle name was pulled out of the girl's arse for emphasis. "I've been up against more of that babe's voodoo than you'll ever know. I know how this works."

A quirk of the brow.

"Another muggle movie reference…"

"I wish you'd stop using those."

"Never," she grinned weakly.

"This is why I fear for you," the witch stroked Vienna's hair delicately. "You're playing dangerous games."

"Then stay. Make sure I behave. Don't leave me alone," Vienna offered.

"You won't be," she replied briskly, now all business, aiming her wand at the couple of miniscule belongings she brought so that she could shrink them down to fit in her robe pockets. "Lucius will be here."

That was hardly what Vienna wanted to hear. _Surely there's a way to fix this without telling her? It's not as though she'd believe me anyway._ "That's…" and words failed her. What could she say to make Narcissa stay? Everything she thought of sounded so wrong. It's not like she could tell her that Lucius was out to take her down. Even if she did believe her, she'd just tell Vienna to keep her head low.

"Besides, I've got to go back to my own mission, anyhow. I dare not fail in this," she smoothed out her robes and picked off some lint that wasn't even there. "In the meantime I want you to be on your absolute best behavior. I am _not_ coming back to your funeral; I will _not_ lose another child."

"How can I argue with that?" Vienna mumbled begrudgingly, scowling even as a tear leaked from her eye. Her own parents had died while she was in Hogwarts…second year, perhaps? This was the only mother-daughter relationship she had, and she knew that she was the only 'child' Narcissa had left; Draco abandoned her for staying with Lucius. She didn't blame the boy—man a bit, but his mother needed him.

"Good. In that case I'll be on my way."

No more words, no hugs, no anything. She just left.

_Well that's bloody fantastic! It's really too bad that Severus couldn't come around right about now before Lucius gets here. I need him to listen to some of my ideas before I do anything. Dammit, why do I feel so helpless?_

"Vienna," a low voice rumbled in her ear and she shivered. "Vienna, my dear, what have you done to make the Dark Lord so displeased that you have come to look like such _shit?_" Lucius; of course.

"How in Merlin's name did you get in here without me hearing you?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Oh, your voice…darling," he breathed, leaning ever closer to her face as he spoke. She dared not to back away though; he fed on fear just as Rafael did. "I wonder what happened to your voice. Were you screaming?"

She felt her face heat up and her heart skip oddly at the implications the tone of his voice and his expression were making. This wasn't the reaction she was expecting at all, and this certainly wasn't the reaction she would _give_ him. "You're sick."

"Really? Because it looks like you're the one in bed. _So sick._" He tutted and smiled, "Let's see if I can fix you." Withdrawing, he stood up and turned to the bathroom to rummage through her bathroom cabinets looking for only he knew what.

"Ah, here we are," he came out with a few potion bottles and set them on her nightstand, simultaneously sitting on the edge of her bed. "We have something for internal healing for that poor throat of yours, some bruise salve if any bruises are present and I'm sure there are, and a bit of Pepper Up for that malnourished look you have about you."

She accepted the proffered healing and Pepper Up without any hesitation, but when he told her to strip so that he could examine her for bruises; she stayed stock still in her bed. "I can take care of that myself, thank you."

Lucius just watched her expectantly.

"Malfoy…"

"Vienna, you know it won't take but a moment and I can easily have you naked as the day you were born, myself. Please, don't make this difficult." Even as his hand inched to his cane to retrieve his wand, she didn't budge—only pulled the covers up closer to herself.

Perhaps this could be her way out?

"I dare you, you filthy, rotten-"

"Ah ah, be careful. Remember who holds all the cards," he smirked.

"Not necessarily," she retorted. "Rafael almost killed Cissy just for being in my bed." _Not entirely true, but doubtful that he would check on it._ "What do you think he would do to you should you see me starkers?" She let that question hang there for a moment before continuing, "Are you willing to be tortured to death just to get your jollies looking at me?"

"Are you thinking I would be anything but professional? Again, milady, you wound me," he sneered, looking her over in disgust. "Besides, I wouldn't _think_ of touching you. You are the Dark Lord's, entirely. You're right, it would be suicide _if_ I was thinking of doing something untoward but I am not." Before she had time to process this, he had grabbed his wand and Divesto'd her of her gown and moved her sheets back. "Now, let's see these bruises, shall we?"

Indeed, she was covered with bruises, old and new, that she hadn't even noticed. She supposed it had something to do with the fact she was more concerned with other things to notice the pain from them. Some were purple, some were green, and some were yellow. She winced a bit at their appearance, wondering if they'd hurt when he applied the salve—as that was now inevitable.

When she looked up at the blonde wizard she was surprised to find him appraising her with a purely clinical sort of look. "It seems most of your bruises are concentrated on your arms and legs." He flicked his wand and she found herself in her brassier and knickers, "I figure you're less likely to bite if I offer you some modesty, especially when there's no need for you to not have these on…though when you turn around, your knickers will have to go. I can assure you that your arse is bruised as often as you fall on it."

"At least I get back up."

"Noted," he remarked without inflection as he put some cream on his hands and began massaging it gently into her calves.

It was quite the opposite experience of what she had expected; it was quite pleasurable. He worked her thighs, shoulders, upper arms, and forearms. By this time she was nearly a pile of pudding on the bed; completely content beneath this hated man's ministrations. She didn't see the soft, pleased smile on his face because her eyes were closed in relaxation.

"Turn over, please," he said in a low, quiet voice. And she did so without so much as a word. Putty.

He was right, he saw as he magically divested her of knickers, her bum was covered in bruises. Once he had that area done, he worked on her equally bruised back. He earned a few moans from her that he was sure she wasn't even conscious she had made as he worked several knots out of her tense back.

"Is there anything else you need?" he asked, brushing his lips against her ear and letting his hair drag along her bare back. He delighted in the shiver that this elicited from her.

"My head?" she asked quite sheepishly for one so usually headstrong.

_I'm not a miracle worker, _he thought with a smile. "You've probably got a mild concussion. I'm no Healer, but that's my guess. Do you mind if I check?" She gave him the go-ahead and he gently but firmly pressed around her scalp, watching her face for any wincing and taking mental notes for any slight indentations that seemed unusual. Not that he'd know what her usual was, but he knew well enough was a human skull was shaped like. "Here, drink a bit of this, it should help."

Vienna opened her eyes to see him handing her a small silver flask. "What is it?"

He offered her his most charming, lopsided, boyish grin. "Firewhiskey."

With a bit of a laugh she downed some and handed it back to him.

He flicked his wand over to her sheets so that they could cover her once more. "If that is all, my lady…" he sighed heavily as he watched her, lightly biting her lip and drifting off to sleep.

-o-o-o-

Narcissa stood before the large oak doors of the Dark Lord's study. She wasn't expected and she was sure that she was one of the last people he would want to see right now, but this needed to be addressed. Vienna's health was of utmost importance, she was sure or hoped at least, that Rafael would agree to this point of view. Unlike Voldemort, this man had grown up in a loving family; he simply had inherited the streak of insanity that seemed to run throughout the Gaunt line. She prayed to the gods that would mean he responded well to mothering…she'd tried it before and it had worked alright, but he'd never been in such a snit before.

Snit was hardly the word for this. He was losing his own mind. _Why is it we always hand our lives over to those with the least presence of mind?_

She slowly raised her hand to knock on the door but hesitated. _How much should I reveal? She seems to think Lucius is out—no wonder she seemed so hesitant to be alone with him. Regardless, the notion is ridiculous but in her mind it's probably a sound accusation. But there's got to be some reason…and surely her husband wouldn't like hearing of her hallucinating of other men, as jealous as he is. Thank the heavens this wasn't a love match—his possessiveness is horrid enough._ She shivered, remembering his Cruciatus. _Then again perhaps she would mind better…_

_ Come now, Narcissa, you can do this. You took audience with Voldemort before._

_ But at least his instability was the one thing you could count on._ She retorted back to herself as her hand finally made contact with the large door. A thudding, echoing sound reverberated off the door and she winced; it had been so deathly quiet before.

"Enter," came a muffled reply from behind the door. _Now or never._

Narcissa pushed the heavy door and looked around. Perhaps a private library might be a more apt way to describe the study? Tall bookshelves lined the walls, and there were even a couple rows of books towards the back. She walked just inside and stayed in her place; it was not proper to go meandering about rooms one wasn't familiar with. She would wait until he came to her.

After several minutes of doing all she could to not wring her hands, Rafe appeared with a book in his. "Lady Malfoy, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Lady Malfoy bowed her head slightly in respect before speaking, "Milord, I wish to speak to you a bit…freely…if I may? It's about your wife."

This seemed to at least pique his interest, "Do continue."

"I am worried. Her health-"

"She is being well looked after, Narcissa," he interrupted, his voice hard. "I understand your concern but part of this is to teach her a lesson."

"Be that as it may," she reached out to lightly touch his arm; a gesture he looked at with great suspicion, "it's her _mental_ health that has me worried. The _mental_ backlash that may come of this. I am already seeing some negative signs of the Cruciatus affecting her. I just don't want her fate to be that of my sister."

Rafe looked at the woman through narrowed eyes, "What do you mean? What is so horrible that has happened to her already?"

Narcissa quickly drew away from him. _How much to reveal?_ "She has been having vivid hallucinations; confusing them with reality. She will tell me things—fantastical things even for the wizarding world—and goes into fits when I tell her they aren't real." _That should be enough…_

"Is this all?" Rafe looked at her carefully.

"Yes, Lord."

"How long have you known about this?"

"Several months …but it's been infinitely worse since the gathering," she admitted, head down.

"Several?" he scoffed, "The gathering when she fainted…it had nothing to do with her dress, did it?"

"No."

"Just leave. Now. Go back to your mission, Narcissa…else I give you another dose of your earlier punishment."

"Yes milord. Thank you." She wasted no time in leaving.

Once the blonde witch had left, Rafe roared in frustration, throwing his book across the room and throwing himself into the nearest leather chair. "Damn!" Maybe Narcissa was overthinking things—simply paranoid about the effects of the Cruciatus. Besidrs, it was Azkaban that really made Bellatrix so mad, right? Bellatrix caused the Longbottoms to go loony with the Cruciatus. He heaved a sigh and got out of the chair, pacing across the floor.

_If only that woman wasn't so infuriating and just _obeyed_ me like she should, I wouldn't have to curse her. Gods! It's been awhile since I had to…these past few months have just been hell! I suppose her pregnancy didn't help…_He scowled, thinking once more of the child they'd lost due to _their_ actions. _Damn provoking bitch._

He growled and picked up the book he had thrown, drudging back to the chair he had earlier thrown himself in and this time lounged in it. Now would be as good a time as any to brush up a bit more on the Dark Arts and calm down. The power radiating from the book seemed to be like a sedative to him now that he concentrated on it.

-o-o-o-

_"Vienna," that beautiful, smooth voice rumbled against her ear and she smiled, burying her face in the pillow to hide her blush. "Vienna, are you ever going to wake up?" he chuckled._

_ She turned to face him finally and leaned up to give him a long, slow, good-morning kiss. "Yes, Severus, darling?"_

And then she found her eyes to be truly open, looking into the mildly surprised face of Lucius Malfoy.

"That was all your doing, my dear," he laughed lightly before standing to full height. "I got an owl from your husband requesting that I take you out for some fresh air. Perhaps a turn about the garden would be to your liking?"

_Since when did he stop being such an ass? No, he's still an ass…just really good with his hands…at massages. Devil take it!_

"If I have no other choice," she growled, irritated at herself. "I suppose the garden will do just fine." She sat up slowly, refusing to make eye, or any other, contact with Lucius for that matter. She swung her legs over the opposite side of the bed and stood slowly. Thank God she was able to support her own weight; having Lucius assist her would have been rather annoying.

"Able to walk already?"

"Perhaps there's some mind over matter to it," she replied, chin in the air, as she walked towards the door.

"And you're going to go out like that?" He asked, raising one of those perfect eyebrows.

"What's wrong with the way I loo…" the words died on her lips as she looked down and noticed that in her concentration to ignore Lucius as much as possible, she had also failed to notice that she was still wearing just her bra.

"Well, personally I can't find anything _wrong _with the way you look," he smirked, giving her a quick once over. "But I'm sure you would appreciate some clothes, hmm?"

Before she could nod, he had waved his wand to her armoire and a dark green dressing gown slipped its way onto her.

"Knickers?" she mumbled, avoiding all eye contact.

"Of course."

She smiled at the feeling of the fabric being replaced around her body. "Thank you."

He tried not to laugh, instead offering his arm to her. "If that is all, my lady, shall we be on our way?"

Vienna nodded and ignored the crooked arm he had presented for her. Instead she walked on and attempted opening the door herself to no avail. "Bloody stupid doors," she growled. "Are these warded against me or something?"

"No. I would venture to guess you aren't back to your usual strength. Allow me."

_Show off. Just because I'm not able to use magic doesn't mean you need to throw your weight around._ "Thanks." She walked through the magically opened doors and wound her way through the manor, dragging her hand along the wall in her wake. It didn't have the grandeur of the Malfoy Manor, but it was nice. It was, for lack of a better word, home. Which reminded her…

"Malfoy?"

"Yes, milady?"

"Do you think when we are through I can return to my _actual_ quarters? I'm tiring of the guest quarters and I think if I'm strong enough to make it around the garden, surely I can make it to my own room." She felt as though she sounded a bit like a spoiled child done with her toys, but she had _never_ asked for this room…not to mention it wasn't near as nice _and_ it seemed she had a tendency to get into a lot of trouble there.

"I don't see why not," he shrugged. "I think it can be easily arranged."

"Good." Vienna continued on at a faster pace, feeling as though if she could outrun Lucius then perhaps she could just leave this life. But of course she couldn't open that damn door that led to freedom. It wouldn't matter anyway, she didn't have her wand.

"Ah, but _that_ door is warded against you. Once more, if you'll allow me, I can get that for you."

"It seems as though, _once more_," she scowled, "I don't _have_ a choice. Permission granted."

Lucius smirked and unwarded the door, allowing her to pass through. He walked a few steps behind her, quietly and contentedly. It almost startled him when she spoke.

"Malfoy, can I ask you something?"

Easily he caught up alongside her. "You can."

She took a deep breath, looking everywhere but at him, "You really slip truth serums to Cissy?"

"Of course," he waved it off as a thing of little importance, "She's a woman. I don't expect her to always tell me the truth of her own volition."

"Prat," she scoffed, sticking her chin in the air again. "Do you honestly interrogate her about me?"

"Well yes, it's part of my duty."

Finally she turned burning eyes on him, furious beyond belief for some unknown reason. "What?!" she screeched. "He uses you two to spy on me? Just how long has he been doing this?"

"Calm down," the wizard rolled his eyes, "What else would you expect of him? Would you expect anything different? He's…careful about you."

"You mean paranoid," she snorted. "The lot of you are."

"And you aren't?"

"With as many paranoid, controlling, abusive dolts as I have to be around I would say I _have_ to be paranoid." There was a long pause before either spoke again. Vienna took this to mean Lucius must have agreed with her. Lucius took this to mean she had finally dropped the subject. Both were wrong.

"You know, if you wanted to know so much about me you could just poison me," she snapped.

Lucius closed his eyes for a moment, pushing down his frustration. "It is not. Poison. It's Veritaserum in _very_ diluted doses. And I couldn't _just_ dose you with it. That would be for the Dark Lord to do."

"Fantastic!" she smiled rather sarcastically, waving her arms about in mock celebration, "Let's have a wife-drugging party, shall we? All of us women can tell the juiciest gossip, right in front of the men! Oh wait, that's already done without the drugging at any given gathering, you men just don't bother eavesdropping."

"Because it's all drivel," he guffawed, scratching his brow and shaking his head. "Really, my lady, what has you in such a fit?"

She stopped midstride and turned to glare up at the man who was able to stop midstride as well with quite surprising grace without tripping over either Vienna or himself. "Because you are withholding information from Rafael to blackmail me for reasons yet to be determined and here you are attempting to act like the perfect gentleman that I _know_ you are not!"

"I would hardly call it blackmailing when you enjoy it so much, my lady," he said in a low, seductive voice; making the term of respect sound so provocative. "I can see the way the blood is rising into your cheeks and chest right now. This is more about your embarrassment of wanting your best friend's husband and the frustration and fear of betraying the man you fear the most."

Vienna felt the heat rising into her face as he spoke and glowered at him.

"Are you quite finished you bigoted ass?" she was breathing heavily, adrenaline coursing through her veins. In the back of her mind she knew she was probably going to do or say something stupid…something she couldn't take back. But at this point, there was no going back. "All of your self-centered accusations are quite false, thank you very much. I _do_ indeed call it blackmailing, actually. I find you incredibly repulsive, disgusting, infuriating, immoral, hateful, and evil! You stabbed your own best friend in the back and left him to die when he needed you the most! You-"

"Don't speak things of which you know nothing about, girl."

"Oh you know very well that I know _plenty_. You turncoat son of a-" she slapped him _hard_ across the face. "No matter what, he trusted you. He knew of your loyalties, but he always thought that you would side with your friends and family first and foremost. But no you just had to save your own skin. Look where it has gotten you—gotten us all—a new Dark Lord. Isn't it lovely? A new darkness to look forward to."

"If you hadn't been such a whore you wouldn't have gotten yourself into _any_ of this mess and you would be blissfully ignorant of it all, now wouldn't you? But you've _always_ had a taste for the darkness which you so clearly detest," his hand came up to her neck and he squeezed lightly, just enough to frighten her.

"Let me go, Malfoy," she grabbed at his wrist, scratching with her nails and leaving four small blood trails and a crescent indent from her thumb. "Release me or…"

"Learning, are we? But of course, little tigress." He released her and examined the marks she had left on his arm before taking out his wand and healing them. "You might want to file down your claws."

"You might want to work on that grip," she sassed, "I've gotten out of worse _without_ magic."

"Don't tempt me."

Vienna growled, rubbing her throat absently and began walking once more. "Do you believe me?"

Lucius raised a brow; her change of tone and topic was rather rapid and surprising to say the least. "Pardon?"

"May as well talk about it with you, you already know and what you don't know you'll find out later: Cissy doesn't believe me—or else she doesn't want to. She told me not to speak of Severus' return to anyone because it would put me in great jeopardy. She wants me to forget him, but how can I forget him when he's always there?"

"Well," he took a moment, trying to be rational about this. "How is your situation with him, should he be alive as you think him to be, any different than with myself? You're still married. You're still surrounded by puppeteers."

"I love him, I have for years: I loathe you."

"Love is irrelevant," he dusted off his shoulder, "Severus would have told you the same thing."

"Can we go back to my room now?" she asked abruptly, almost wearily.

"If that is your wish."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hullo, my dears. I know this is a little late, but I'm afraid my updates will be a little bit more far between now that college has resumed. (Part of the problem with _this_ chapter was that it was just plain stubborn...I actually rewrote the whole thing...twice.) But on the bright side once each chapter is finished, the beta process will go quicker because I can just hand my laptop over to Ducky (who I would like to thank, per usual!). (: Anyhow, I thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoy. Much love & as always, feedback is much appreciated!  
-C**

**October, 2008**

Vienna paced anxiously about her room looking for anything to help her out of this predicament but, just like the past fifty times she had done so, found no message in a bottle. There was no knight in shining armour to come save her—not that there ever had been.

That thought made her space feel a cramping in herself and found her clutching her chest as the oxygen became heavier and heavier; the air more difficult to breathe. "Damn," she muttered. It felt as though the walls were closing in; the reality of her situation pressing in on her from all sides. She needed that air again—that fresh, clean air of the outdoors, but there was no way Lucius was going to let her out now…and house elves were hardly qualified.

_Hah!_ _Listen to me; 'House elves aren't qualified to watch me.' What am I? A convict? A killer? No, I'm an unjustified prisoner._ She shook her head in frustration. _I'm stuck._ And from there her thoughts became static; one thought overlapping and interrupting the other until she had to sit down and hold her aching head in her hands. There were too many thoughts and not enough of her patience to sort them through; too much oppression and not enough oxygen. She began hyperventilating; crying. Panicking.

Two strong arms wrapped around her from behind and pulled her down into a lying position; she turned frantically to find herself staring into Severus Snape's robe-clad chest.

"Gods, Severus," she breathed, unable to find more words than that.

It seemed that he understood, though. He held her to his form and, though she thought air was what she needed, it seemed that his scent would suffice just fine. She breathed him in and out shakily at first until she finally calmed down, her breaths evening out.

Vienna closed her eyes and pressed her forehead into his chest, letting a small sob escape. _Am I so addicted to this man? Is that it? Surely not. No, I've always been strong…haven't I?_

The dark man tightened his embrace around her, distracting her from her thoughts.

She curled into him and relaxed, tears still falling quietly but feeling a little more at peace. "What would I do without you, my Severus?"

"Live on," he replied quietly so that she almost did not hear. "You will live on."

* * *

**November, 1994**

"I cannot go on like this, Professor!" Vienna growled to nobody in particular. It had been days since her former professor had come to see her and he had left her with an even smaller clientele list than she had to begin with. That wouldn't have mattered—she could have gone out on her own and found more—but he had warded the damn room against her exit without his permission!

"Men!" she huffed, throwing herself on the disheveled bed and summoning a tossed-aside book from a corner of the room that someone to retrieve. At least it was something to occupy herself with.

_**Love Magick Thru the Ages**_ . _Fascinating...perhaps I could occupy myself._ Her mind began wandering a bit more pleasurably as she thumbed through the pages and smiled as a child about to do something incredibly naughty.

"Miss Trotter."

"Shit!"Vienna quickly shoved the book beneath her pillow and straightened out her demeanor, though she hardly had cause to. "Professor, what a surprise!"

"Indeed." Snape looked around the room and at her with a bored expression, "Get dressed, if you please. We're leaving for a short while."

"How about you tell me where we're going first, hm?"

"To what purpose? Do not waste my time, Trotter."

Vienna stood and came toe to toe with the tall wizard and glared at him, "_Professor_, I am hardly asking you a difficult question."

"No, but you are being a thorn in my side," he snarled and grabbed her wrist. "Do not complain about your lack of garb."

A nauseating sensation pulled at her stomach as he apparated them to a location unknown to her. Upon arrival he let her go and she fell flat on her backside, looking up at him in a mix of confused, angry astonishment. When she realized that he wasn't going to acknowledge her she stood up and brushed herself off, wandering off to look around the dusty old place. It seemed as though it was falling apart. There were floorboards coming up here and there, the stairs looked horrendous, and the ceiling was bowing. That surely wasn't even the whole of it. Vienna didn't have too much time to wonder where they were because a firm grip was placed around her wrist and she was dragged into what she guessed used to have been a kitchen.

It was, admittedly, freezing in there; especially in just her lingerie.

"Sit at the table," he directed, pointing absently at an old, disgusting surface. "Sit and be quiet."

Vienna sat down but she was not quiet. She drew patterns in the dust with her finger and looked up at him, "Professor, this place…it's a sty."

"Shall I take you back to your room or would you rather be out for a little while and have something decent to eat?" he snapped.

She frowned, halting in her pattern-making. "I don't appreciate being threatened with having to go back to my room without any supper like I'm some sort of impudent child, Professor. I'm a grown woman and I'm perfectly capable-"

"Do not bore me with your childish fits, Trotter. If you were as perfectly capable as you believe yourself to be, you wouldn't be in this 'sty'." She watched him with a growing ire as he went about the cupboards, grabbing various ingredients for…food?

_Merlin, he's serious! He intends for me to eat here!_

"You wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. You would probably be working for the Ministry, blissfully ignorant of anything wrong in the world."

Vienna scowled and banged her fist against the table, causing a cloud of dust to encompass her like smoke, "Honestly, _Professor_, that sounds like the lesser option. It seems fit for someone far _less_ capable."

He sighed and looked over his shoulder for a moment, wrinkling his nose. "Make yourself useful and clean off that table."

She stood and glared at him, gesturing to her teddy, "Do you think I have a place to keep my wand?"

"Up your arse, if your attitude is anything to go by."

"Touché, Professor," she rolled her eyes, "But really, I'm going to need a rag, some soap, and water if I'm going to do this properly without magic."

With some hesitancy, he pulled his wand from the holster in his sleeve and held it out toward her, "Try mine," and then as a small cut, "a _truly_ capable witch would keep her wand on her no matter what."

"Bastard," she snarled, taking the proffered wand and weighing it in her palm. It felt a little off. It definitely didn't feel like it wanted to cooperate with her…but it was comfortable enough and almost familiar.

She pursed her lips and pointed the wand at the table, trying to connect with it and focus on the dust, dirt, and grime all at once. "Evanesco."

To the surprise of both parties, the table stood before them clear of its previous filth. At first, she was ecstatic—but when she looked up into the man's face, he was more guarded than ever.

Wordlessly, she handed the wand back to Snape and walked out of the room to either contemplate what was going through his mind or forget the whole situation altogether. She chose to forget; instead she wandered about the bookshelf-lined house. It must have been something more than decent at one time; it was quite large and had the remnants of some ornate wooden carvings in the crown moulding. Vienna ran her fingers over the spines of some of the old, dirty books and smiled, quickly withdrawing when she felt a dark presence.

An area on the Dark Arts? It was an overwhelming feeling of seduction, pain, and things unknown. It took all she had to restrain herself from walking further into the darkness—so alluring. Instead, she turned on her heel and went back the way she came until she found herself at the foot of the staircase that could surely collapse at any given moment. With a quick look over her shoulder, she ventured on; taking one careful step at a time, testing her weight slowly to see if the stair would hold. She was halfway up when Snape's voice startled her and nearly caused her to tumble back into the railing.

"Have you never been taught that to sneak around someone's house is impolite?" he grouched, inclining his head toward the kitchen. "Come back to where I can keep an eye on you, you insolent chit."

She obeyed and resumed her place at the table without incident. There was a long silence between them as the food was prepared the muggle way, of all ways, and she stared down at the 'clean' table. She didn't really consider it clean, necessarily, since her magic wasn't at its fullest potential as she had used another's wand…but it was certainly an improved table.

Silence for extended periods had never been her forte. "Why aren't you using your magic? Wouldn't that speed up the process?"

"Food prepared by magic is nowhere near as palatable as that prepared by hand. It is similar to potions."

"But what about the food at Hogwarts?" she frowned.

He sighed, trying to summon his patience. "The magic of the elves at Hogwarts is entirely different; they hone their magic especially for such domestic tasks as cooking."

"How is our magic so different? Isn't the only difference the way we wield our powers? Commonly, wizards and witches utilize wands to concentrate their magic whereas house elves tend to use wandless magic from the start." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "Perhaps it is because they are the superior beings. No wonder that Granger girl is in such a snit over their welfare…"

She jumped at the sound of cooking utensils clanging against the old potbelly stove. "Do not give that little chit's asinine theories credence, Trotter. They are hardly superior and they most certainly are not charity cases."

"It was just a thought," Vienna retorted, standing. "Honestly, what is up your arse? Is that where you keep your bloody wand? God bless it, I'm not attacking you, Professor, I'm just talking to you! I wasn't trying to be impolite, I was trying to give you space and decided to walk around the house. I figured it'd be better than going for a walk around the street!"

"You have no idea what I have to deal with—what I've done—what I will do…and it is all the better that you never know," he said in a low, threatening voice, grabbing her upper arms. With a relaxed grip and in a softer tone, he added, "Do you have any idea how much you worry me, Vienna?"

She furrowed her brow in confusion. _Genuine worry? Does he actually care? Oh God above, does he care?_

"I actually worry you?" she choked out with a half-smile, half-laugh.

"Don't read into it any more than there is," he growled, turning back to the food.

At first she had been a bit offended by his words, but then she realized, he cared. He wasn't just looking after some student, some dependably good shag. He cared. A bit dazed by the epiphany—the realization that Severus Snape could feel-she came up behind her former professor and wrapped her arms about his waist, standing on tiptoe and kissing the back of his neck.

The man froze, feeling himself respond, and grunted irritably. "Can you at least wait until after we've eaten, woman?"

"Of course," she smiled.

-o-o-o-

"Why do you care for me?" She drowsily threaded her fingers through his hair. "It surely has nothing to do with your duties."

"And why would you say that?" he cupped her face and lightly kissed her brow while removing her hands from his person with his other hand; laying her in her own bed.

"I've no connection to the Potter boy or anyone of importance, really. I'm no one of interest to either side. Could it be that you care? Perhaps that you even lo-"

"Don't be silly, girl. Love has nothing to do with it; you have much unlocked potential within your magic. It doesn't take long to see that, and any Death Eater could tell that—Merlin knows how many you've willingly exposed yourself to. You've no idea how much interest you could be to them."

"_Nothing_ else?" she fished, positive she was on to something.

"Go to sleep, you stubborn chit. I've a school to return to."

She snorted softly, "Yes, sir."

* * *

**September, 2004**

"Marcus…" Vienna looked tentatively over to her brother with tears streaming down her face—Marcus was thanking whatever deity would listen for makeup charms. Her makeup would otherwise be terribly ruined.

On her wedding day of all days.

"Marcus, I don't want to do this. _Please_, I beg of you, _please_ don't make me do this. I swear to you that nothing good can come of this."

"And only worse can come of backing out of it," he said, cupping her cheeks and drying her tears with the pads of his thumbs. "My sweet, baby sister, if I could make all of this go away I would. If I could take away all of your pain, I would. But since I can't do those things, my only wish is for you to be happy on your wedding day. Please? _Please_ baby sister? Can you do this for me?" He locked eyes with her and waited for her to respond, but she only closed her eyes and bowed her head; sobbing.

"Oh, love, it can't be that bad. Have you not said so yourself that you at least find him handsome?"

"Evil is a very alluring power," she spat, venom pouring from her.

"And you were taken in just as I, sweet sister," he replied condescendingly. "And now we must continue on the path set for us. All bridges have been burned. You may as well do it with a smile."

"But I don't even love him!" she whispered harshly, praying he'd see reason. "How can I marry a man I do not even love? I do not even find him worthy of my friendship. I cannot _stand_ him. He is vile, he is…I don't like being in his presence, Marcus."

"Listen to me, and listen very well Vienna Althea Trotter; you are going to marry Rafael Gaunt. You are going to stand by his side and do his bidding. You are going to do so willingly. _Love _ has nothing to do with."

Her eyes hardened as a shiver ran up her spine. "I think I'm beginning to understand."

* * *

**October, 2008**

"Mistress?" Dripsy popped in with a low bow, "Master is here to see you."

A small whimper escaped her lips just as Rafael entered her chambers and she clambered back as far as she could into the headboard. "Gone," she whispered to herself. _Not apparated, surely not. I'd have noticed that…just…gone. Fucking hell…was I asleep?_

"What do you want?" she blurted out before she could stop herself as soon as the man was in the room. "Tell me what it is you want."

He gave her a strange look.

_Why is he looking at me like that? Why isn't he chastising me? Teasing me?_

"Would you stop that?" she picked up a nearby object and chucked it at him and the damned man deflected it, of course.

"Darling," he spoke carefully as though speaking to a spooked horse, "I cannot stop what I do not realize that I am doing." He approached her coolly but cautiously, taking both of her hands in his own and spoke in an even gentler tone, "I do wonder if you've been fully aware of your own actions as of late."

She tried yanking her shaking hands out of his grasp; eyes wide. "Stay away from me," she whispered.

He silently incarcerated her and sat her on the bed, "You've always been my hellcat, and you've always had a delightful tongue on you. You've never resorted to so much violence, however."

"If I had my wand, I wouldn't have to resort to such _violence_. I could just hex you here and now!"

Rafe sighed, sitting next to his seemingly mental wife. "Due to unforeseen circumstances I am going to overlook that…you used to be so compliant. You used to know what was good for you; good for the _cause_. You were so-"

"The cause?! Because I had to be 'good'; I had pressure from all sides to be a good little wife. In killing my brother you severed just one more reason for me to obey you." For a moment she could have sworn his eyes went black, but when she blinked they were back to normal.

"Love…" he bowed his head, at a loss for words.

A disturbing laugh emitted from low in the woman's chest, "Love? Love has _nothing _ to do with it. Don't you know that, Rafael? You of all people that walk this earth should know about it." Her silvery eyes seemed a bit crazed; her body contorted strangely from laughter.

He took hold of her upper arms, "Vienna," he inhaled deeply and brought her into his embrace; losing his clinical attitude. "I fear that you need to be seen about. You need more constant care than can be offered you here. Until you are better it would be ideal for you to stay at the Malfoy Manor."

"But surely you have realized that I am no longer in need of care? Get Healer Scrim in to look at me if you don't believe me," she growled.

"Absolutely not," he brought his head up to look at her, "I will not bring in outsiders any longer concerning your condition."

Confused, "My _condition; _there is no 'condition'. And what is this shit about Healer Scrim being considered an 'outsider'? Since when?"

"Don't worry about it, Vienna. I want you to focus on feeling better."

"I feel fine," she narrowed her eyes at Rafe, "As you can see I'm as healthy as ever, maybe even more so." Vienna eyed him very carefully through the slits she had made of her lashes.

"No," she gasped in horrific realization, "_you_—you think I've lost it? You're stowing me away to save face, aren't you?" She wasn't sure whether to cry or rage and was left with an empty feeling. "No longer useful to the man who thinks himself God; who thinks he can do what Voldemort, Grindelwald, and Hitler could not. Oh yes, you've named your new reign after a failed era of muggle tyranny. Personally I'd come up with a new name before the muggleborns and educated of wizarding society pick up on it…then again, apparently, I'm the crazy one here."

"Lucius," it was clear now that Rafe was done talking with her on this subject; it wasn't up for discussion nor was it something he wished to listen to her rave about.

"Yes, Lord?" the blond wizard stepped in from, apparently, the hallway.

"I would like you to move my wife's things to the guestroom closest to your quarters."

"Of course, milord."

"By tonight."

"It shall be done."

"Good. In the meantime she shall be with me. Send Dripsy for us when you are ready."

Legs now unbound, Vienna was helped to a standing position and walked out of the room. She was being taken to his room.

Surely not for _that_. He just accused her of being nutters.

Vienna froze in the doorway, "Why can't we just have Scrim look at me and then Obliviate him?"

"Because he is my most trusted Healer, Vienna; I will not ruin his mind," he took her arm and pulled her the rest of the way in the room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

_Oh right, Scrim is still useful. I am not; I am disposable. _"So I am to be sent away…"

"Just until you get better," he replied, gently pushing her to a seated position on the edge of the bed. "Then you may reclaim your place by my side."

_Because that's where I want to be._

He knelt before her and took her hands in his, giving her the most sincere look he could. He looked like a snake.

"V, if I had St. Mungo's and all the media under my thumb already, I would be sending you to the ward there. As timing has it, however, I do not. We shall have to do with the cards we are dealt."

"Then take a useless Healer-"

"Don't you see that you are thinking about this all the wrong way?" he stood and leaned over her, causing her to have to lean back. "I am going to be the good guy. I will lure them all in; they will love me. I will promise them so many things, but even _they_ won't be able to see through it."

"Potter will," she retorted, cracking her knuckles at her sides to let him know she was getting uncomfortable.

"Potter is paranoid," he commented dryly, backing off and offering her a glass of wine which she accepted…despite the fact he would have to give it to her.

The faintest of smiles flickered across his face as he poured the wine down her throat; she seemed so lost in it, so glad to have the faint burn of the alcohol hit the back of her throat-the way her lashes fluttered against her cheeks…it all added to the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He was almost caught off guard when her eyes opened and she tilted her head forward, signaling that she was finished.

Rafe set the glass down and just stared at his beautiful wife; her dark hair was still long, wavy, and dark. It cascaded perfectly past her shoulders to end above her mid-back. Her skin was pale, flawless…well, it had flaws, but they weren't of the bothersome sort. Rather than having pink-tinged pale skin, there was an undertone of olive to her, but her cheeks had a bit of rose to them. And those eyes…those quicksilver eyes. He smiled to himself as she backed away warily; that rose-colour showing in her cheeks, throat, and chest ever-so-slightly as her eyes flashed.

Narcissa was probably right; the woman was going batshit crazy. More so than any woman normally does.

Abruptly he got up and announced that he was going to see for himself if Lucius was almost finished, saying something about the man having spent too much time taking care of her already and being rusty with common spells.

And then he was gone.

-o-o-o-

Vienna had decorated her original room (if one could call it decoration), so that she would never forget that she was in a prison of her own. Whenever Rafe asked her why everything was so ugly she would evenly tell him that she rather enjoyed unrestored antiques; they gave her a sense of 'peace'.

He would nod slowly and demand that she come to his quarters and they would fuck. He didn't like 'antiques'. Or 'shit' as he called it.

Truth be told, her room reminded her of Severus; beauty in the eyes of the beholder, wonderfully strange and strangely wonderful. It almost looked like an eclectic, eccentric old witch's attic…except that old witch had passed away some time ago…it looked old, unused, and unloved. Except by her.

_Like Severus._

Lucius had, admittedly, done a remarkable job at replicating it; the whole look and feel. She was almost proud of him for allowing such a room that he would probably find atrocious to be in his manor. Not quite proud, though.

He was ordered, after all, by his 'Lord and Master' to do so.

She looked around, touching objects here and there; twirling this, whirring that. Once she felt like everything was in its proper place and her prison was properly put together, she sat down on her seemingly tattered, old sheets, and picked up a book. Really, they were rather nice, but she transfigured them to at least look old. Nice bed sheets in a room such as this just wouldn't fit.

Vienna lay back and held the book over her head so she could read. For some reason, as of late, reading Alexander Dumas' _The Count of Monte Cristo_ had just seemed so fitting; she could relate to Mercedes. But now, sitting in Malfoy Manor, she began wondering if she could relate to Mercedes at all anymore? Or if Mercedes could relate to her…

Not that it mattered. Either way it was all fiction and this was real life; no one understood. And if Narcissa didn't believe her, who would?

She threw the book down to the floor on the side of the bed and pulled a pillow down to her face, screaming into it.

Vienna screamed for her waning sanity, she screamed for lost freedom, for Narcissa's ignorance, for Severus, for Marcus, for the Light, for her lost innocence, for all the stupid decisions she'd made that brought her here, and for her parents. She screamed for the pain of life. She screamed for the loss of her children.

She screamed until she blacked out.

And when she awoke, she might have thought that the past several hours had been a dream had it not been for the pain in her throat from the screaming; the dark spectre was holding her as he had been before. "Did you sleep well, my Vienna?"

Vienna pushed him abruptly away and scrambled out of bed, grabbing an old letter opener to use as a weapon should he approach her, "How did you get in here? Who are you?"

"Vienna, I do not have time for these games. Come back to bed."

Her eyes flashed, "These aren't games. Why don't you just answer the bloody question, hm?"

"Gods, woman; I'm Severus Snape. Have you forgotten?"

She advanced on him, "Don't give me that. Severus Snape is dead. I _saw_ him die. I _felt_ him die. Who are you?"

"How many times are we going to go over this?" he swung his legs over the side of the bed and massaged his temples, "I know I've explained this to you before."

Vienna shook her head frantically, "There's no way…Marcus…Marcus _hated _Severus. He would have never done _anything_ to save him. The only thing he hated more than Severus was my relationship with him…if you could really call it that. And you know what else?" she stepped closer, "I don't think Severus Snape would hide away." She thrust the letter opener into his shoulder.

The man cried out and flipped her onto the bed with his good arm, "Dammit, witch! What the hell was that for?" He pinned her beneath his body and quickly removed the offending object from his shoulder after retrieving his wand.

"Episkey," he grunted out, pointing the wand at the gushing wound. The man winced momentarily at the heat and shivered at the cold feeling that overcame the affected area as it healed. "Vienna-"

"That's not even Severus' wand," she gritted out, struggling to get out of beneath him. "I know his wand-"

"I don't need reminding on how well you knew my wand," he smirked. "Do you really think that it would have survived all I have been through since I last saw you?"

She stopped struggling for a moment and considered this, but resumed quickly. "Quit trying to distract me! There is no way-"

"Quit trying to be difficult," the look in his eyes didn't match the harsh way he was holding her down or the tone of his voice. And after several more moments of trying to release herself she stopped and took note of this; his dark eyes were soft. Was he trying to keep from smiling? "Do you remember how many times we've fought and ended up and this position?"

Try as she might, she wasn't able to keep from laughing, "Too many times to count. Oh Merlin, Severus, please tell me _you_ didn't keep count?"

"No," he rested his forehead against hers, lightly dragging his fingertips along her jaw, "No, I cannot say as though I did."

She smiled and leaned into his hand, "I'm sorry for doubting you. It's just that everyone else doubts me; they think I'm crazy and I suppose I was wondering if they were right…but you bleed." She looked at him apologetically, "I don't think hallucinations bleed."

"I don't suppose so," he kissed her forehead, her brows, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, her cheeks, her lips, her neck…

Vienna grabbed his shoulders and brought his body closer to her and ducked her head, recapturing his lips. They kissed like travelers stumbling upon an oasis. She was overcome with his fervour and passion—the life he poured into the kiss. He was taken aback with how soft and sweet her mouth was, which how she moulded herself to him, and how she tasted of chamomile and honey.

So calming and so sweet for one so wound and sharp.

She found herself noting his sharply clean taste…so different from the herbal taste she was used to. _But_, she justified to herself, _time changes people._

"I never thought I would get another chance-"

"No need for words," he ran his hands down the sides of her body, "Tonight, just show me."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I didn't forget about you guys! I'm sooo so so so sorry it's taken this long to update. It won't happen again (hopefully). I had the worst case of writer's block and then there was so much life that happened and...oh college. Oh life. So much...anyway to get back to the story. This chapter definitely deserves the M rating that this story has been given. There are, what are they referred to as? Lemons? Lemons. Yes. Such a strange term. Really, I'm just so excited to be finally posting a chapter that I'm rambling, sorry. I'd like to thank my lovely beta Ducky (aka imustprofess-she's actually going to start posting things of her own soon!) for all of her help and putting up with all my writers block and insecurity. I think we've got this story back on it's roll though. Next chapter should be up in a couple of weeks. Enjoy!  
****-C**

**October, 2008**

Things had been going far too perfectly for Lucius not to be at least a little worried: The Dark Lord was, for the most part, operating completely under the Ministry's nose without the slightest sign of detection other than their hyper-sensitive watchdog, Potter. Narcissa was doing well in her part—being amicable, charming, and just frightening enough to recruit all the old followers and some new ones to support the new Cause.

And then there was his own, personal agenda: the Dark Lady's sanity. Thus far his only miscalculation in the poor woman's downward spiral was the unborn child—how was he to know she was pregnant? She'd been buying black market contraceptives under her husband's nose for so long he figured there was no chance of her being with child. It was truly an unfortunate bit of collateral damage, but in the long run, necessary, he supposed.

Regardless of the size of the issue, that had been it so far.

Something wrong _had_ to be brewing; Vienna was far too accepting of everything—even if she did so with venom at first, there was an air of defeat. Was she completely broken? That would not do! That simply would not do—a completely broken woman could get him killed.

Lucius grabbed for his scotch glass and swirled it around as he leaned back into his leather chair, staring into the crackling flames of his library's fireplace. Sometimes he wondered if working for the previous Dark Lord was easier as there was only Nagini to babysit and she rarely separated herself from her master so those instances were few and far between.

_I hate to admit it, but I could really use your advice, Severus, old boy. Gods, you knew how to walk the thin line; keeping it all in the balance. How in Hades did you do that?_ Lucius suddenly laughed to himself, _Right…'the girl.' Well, how did you deal with her? She's a handful herself. _

Lucius downed what was in his glass and set it down on the table next to him with a sigh just as an Elf popped in.

"Master, Lady is being screaming," the creature bowed low, shaking slightly.

"Did you bother to find out why?" he asked in a bored but threatening tone.

"Yes, Master. Gilby finds things out now. Gilby remembers."

"Well?" he prompted when Gilby did not continue.

"Lady is having nightmares. Lady will not wakes up. Gilby tries, Gilby tries real hard," there was a pleading crack in the last sentence to not be beaten, to not be blamed for Lady not awakening.

As the poor, gangly creature wrung its hands, looking up at the blonde aristocrat in his seat, Lucius took his time in coming up with a response. It looked as though Gilby would start hurting himself right before Lucius gave him a bored nod and a dismissive wave of the hand, muttering for him to go about his usual duties.

"Let us put to test advice from years past now, shall we, Severus?" Lucius said quietly to the empty space around him as he stood from his chair. "Let us see how fair Vienna is doing."

-o-o-o-

_**August, 2005**_

_ It was a balmy day, not horribly so, but it was a comfortable sort of humid heat should there be such a thing. It was familiar to her-reminiscent of childhood when she and Marcus would play in the sun. Back then they would climb trees, build teepees, roll each other down the hill in their Radioflyer…really they'd get into all sorts of muggle mischief and their parents would have to fix it with magic._

_ The innocence of childhood._

_ Today was no such day of careless fun; she'd been out training as an Unspeakable—or at least training to infiltrate the Department of Mysteries. She hated it._

_She hated passing all of these exams, learning all these procedures, and becoming part of something so sacred in the wizarding community knowing she was going to betray them. Thank God for her superiors being complete arseholes. If she'd made any friends in the Ministry—any actual friends—she doubted her ability to go through with it all. But then again, maybe she could._

_She was, apparently, fitting the bill for an Unspeakable._

_ Any way she looked at it, the whole thing was straining. For once, she looked forward to get home to Rafe. To complain._

_ She grunted, throwing her bag down by the door as soon as she entered the manor and affected a Cuban accent, "Lucy, I'm home!" Vienna chuckled to herself humorlessly, strutting down a long corridor to the left. _He'd never understand that one…never. God forbid—he'd probably think I was addressing Lucius.

_ "Rafael?" she called out in her normal voice, pushing doors open, left and right, carelessly. "Dearest, I've had an awful day and I really need to talk to you." _ActuallyI'm in a bitchin' mood and I really need someone to take it out on...maybe emasculate? That'd be nice…

_ She gave a critical look at the door at the end of the hall and leaned her back on the wall thoughtfully. That was the room where Rafe had his most private gatherings and one-on-one meetings with his Death Eaters. Entrance without express permission was death, or at least a very painful Cruciatus._

How very like King Mordecai,_ she mused. _I wonder if I'd be Esther or Vashti? How history _does_ repeat itself in the strangest of ways…even if it's at a stretch. Let's hope I'm Esther.

_She took a deep breath and straightened herself before marching onward. As soon as she threw open the doors she wondered what hell would befall her, for she was most assuredly interrupting a gathering; men stood in a half circle below Rafe's elevated 'throne' and he had his wand fixated on something on the ground. When he looked up at her, first there was rage, then surprise, and then…nothing._

_ "Milord," she grit out, managing a decent curtsey, "I know I have come in quite uninvited but…" her voice trailed off as her eyes fixated on the same object his wand had been directed at. Immediately she immobilized all present and weaved her way through and crouched down next to the mangled, misshaped form of her brother._

_ "No," she whispered, softly touching his face and then brushing his collar back from his neck to find a pulse. To no surprise, there was none._

_ "No, no, no," Vienna bowed over Marcus and cried before remembering where she was and the cause. Her head shot up simultaneously with her wand directed right at Rafe. "You dirty, rotten, scumbag. You filthy, evil—YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON-OF-A-BITCH! You LIED to me! You promised—you promised that should any heavy punishments need to be passed on him that I would be the one to deal with it. You said—CRUCIO!"_

_ The force with which he was hit with her curse caused him to fly back into the wall behind him. Fortunately for him, as he writhed and screamed in pain, all of her magic was now focused on him which meant his followers could stun Vienna, releasing him of the tooth-chattering curse._

_ Vienna settled for glaring at him in her paralyzed state, inwardly vowing to never forgive him; inwardly vowing to be his undoing._

-o-o-o-

**October, 2008**

Vienna shot bolt upright in her bed, breathing heavily with tears staining her face. She looked around, dazed for a moment only to find that she was in her bed, or…as close as she was going to get for the time being. She was in her bed, her room, but not in her residence. The one tell was window that allowed the morning sunlight to filter through onto her face even as she was in bed.

She cursed; hitting the empty space on the bed beside her and wiping her face clean with the back of her other hand. "Damn him, damn him. I will end him if it's the last thing I do." She sighed and took a moment to take in her surroundings a bit better.

"Thanks for the goodbye, you snarky bat," she muttered, absently patting the empty space beside her.

She stretched, gingerly at first but upon a lack of any unusually sore muscles, she stretched like a cat might after being curled up in a long nap and then proceeded to get out of bed. She padded her way over to the window first, taking care that she was not in view of the outside world as she preferred to see, not be seen. Or at least such was the case in the mornings.

After a little inspection and deducing, she figured she was in the east wing with her room overlooking the backyard. It must be one or two stories up…but it could all be an illusion. "Well then that's a bust," she muttered walking toward her bookshelves. The sight of something pale and white in the corner of her eye stopped her and she turned to see her reflection in the full-length mirror.

She was still in her nightdress. "Odd," she slowly pulled the fabric up and over her head and cast it aside while she examined her nude form. _No new bruising? No…surely there is a…no?_ She pulled her hair off her neck and examined that closely, finding it clear of any sort of marking that Severus had made love to her the night previous. Something wasn't adding up: she was in her nightdress and her body wasn't even sore nor was it marked. Perhaps that could be done with magic—but the soreness would have to be through potions, wouldn't it? She'd never heard of a spell or topical salve that could completely take away pain.

"But it happened," she said quietly to herself in an assured voice.

And then three quick raps on the door were all the announcement she had that she was going to have a visitor; she quickly grabbed the robe off the corner of her mirror and threw it around herself just as none other than Malfoy entered.

"Good morning, milady," he drawled with a slight incline of his head, "I see you are up and ready to entertain some old friends?"

"Mind your tongue," she snarled.

"I'd rather mind yours," he smirked. "I have it on good information that you did not perhaps have the most restful of nights? One of my Elves tells me that you were screaming bloody murder. Could you tell me why this is?"

"I could," she smiled sweetly, "but I don't think I will. I really don't see how this is your business."

"Because the Dark Lord has made it so."

"Oh, he is Picard, now is he?—Nevermind, don't even try to understand that. I am his wife. I should be _his_ business. GOD, I am going to regret the day I said that."

"I never…Picard? Is this another one of those things you say because you were raised around muggles? Cissa has told me a little about it."

"Malfoy," she growled, "unless you are here for a good reason, I am asking you to leave."

"I am here to know what was bothering you in the night that you were screaming uncontrollably. Gilby tried to wake you to no avail. That tells me that it was probably a very dark nightmare, and that is something I need to know about." He looked at her pointedly, and perhaps seriously for the first time in a long time.

"Well," she swallowed, a little unnerved by his almost concerned look. "I was dreaming about the day my brother…the day he…when Rafe—"

"The day your brother died?" he clarified. "My manor is full of a lot of dark magic, surprisingly more than that of your husband's. It can trigger such memories and cause you to relive them. It can also cause other, different, hallucinations. Honestly, I don't know why your husband chose to bring you here when all it can do to the already vulnerable is possibly make them worse…" he paused, letting that sink in. "However, I will do my best to make sure you recover no matter what. I need to go start on some Dreamless Sleep and a few other things to protect you from the Dark Magic of this house."

Vienna just nodded, a frown of confusion marring her features as he left.

-o-o-o-

Vienna was quietly reading, propped up against her headboard with her legs tucked beneath her. God forbid she learn something—she was only allowed to read fiction these days. At least she had the privilege of reading _good_ literature; she had to hand it to the blonde son-of-a-bitch, the man had taste.

Good taste.

But even as of late, good taste wasn't holding her interest. She set down the book on her nightstand just in time to look up and see a dark figure in the corner of her room.

"Hullo?" she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, squinting to try making out the dark shape. "Severus?"

_I'm acting like one of those idiots in the muggle horror films,_ she mused. _I always tell _them_ not to go investigating the unknown, don't I? What am I doing?_ She shrugged.

"Whoever you are, I'd like you to come into the light, please."

Finally the dark form took a step forward from the shadows and the light illuminated the slightly more boyish features that now belonged to Severus Snape. Vienna momentarily gave him a look of annoyance but quickly warmed to him. "I've missed you. Forgive me for saying so, I know it's barely been twelve hours, but—"

"Twelve hours since what?" He interrupted.

"…Since I saw you," she offered. "What else?"

"It's been a bit longer than that since we've seen one another, my dear," he raised a hand to her forehead only to be quickly swatted away by a small feminine hand.

"What are—what do you mean, Severus?" she quipped. "Oh, right, you mysteriously vanished away into the night, after—"  
"_I_ mysteriously vanished," the wizard repeated, scratching, the scruff on his cheeks thoughtfully. "Vienna, my dear, I was never here."

She shook her head, smiling in her incredulity at the situation, "Don't play games with me, Snape. There is no denying you were here—that was the best shag I've had in years."

A dark shadow passed over the man's eyes as he leaned forward, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Listen to me, girl, I was _not_ here this past night. We shared no relations and have not done so since the night I left you in your room at Knockturn Alley."

Vienna laughed wryly, twirling an accusing finger at his chest, "Oh Severus, Severus, Severus: you will not play such games with me. I am _not_ a toy to be played with." She poked him square in the chest, "And of all the people in the world, I would not expect this from you."

He took a step back and studied her carefully, "Vienna, I want you to sit down."

"No," she snapped.

"You're acting like a child. Sit down, girl. I need to examine you," he stepped forward, placed his hands on her shoulders, and gently pushed her toward her bed until she fell back against it.

"If you wanted me on my back again all you had to do was ask," she smirked.

By the look she received, it was clear that Severus was not amused:

"Listen to me; I have not 'had you on your back' at any recent point in time, you dim-witted chit," to contrast his harsh words, he gently ran his hands over her legs, arms, and anywhere else he deemed necessary checking for any soreness or recent healing charms…just in case.

At first she was royally pissed off at his treatment of her. However after a deep breath and a mental reminder of who she was with, she realized he was worried…because he _wasn't_ shitting her and she wasn't taking him seriously. People not taking him seriously bothered him…and then her bigger problem surfaced in her mind: _If it wasn't him, then…then who was it? My God, if...if it wasn't…_

She took a shaky breath and sat up, earning a quick glance from Severus that she couldn't quite read before he stood and pulled his wand from its holster.

"Severus, what happened then?" she cupped his face in her hands; earnestly searching his face for answers. He only sighed, looking downcast at the floor.

"I can fairly guarantee that nothing happened to you," he stated in a monotone, "Not physically."

"Not phy—what are you saying?"

"I would like your permission to review what happened before I answer that," he replied.

With a slight blush, she nodded, "I trust you implicitly, Severus."

"Legilimens."

-o-o-o-

_"Tonight, just show me," the dark wizard spoke in a low tone, running his hands down her waist and finally making their aching purchase in her hips, pulling them to his own._

_ Vienna inhaled sharply, feeling a pool of heat coil low in her belly at the look in his eyes and the feeling of his hands gripping her so tightly; pulling their bodies together so intimately. She licked her lips and cautiously craned her neck to kiss him gently, chastely on the soft mouth that spoke with a smooth voice which had her so entranced. She unconsciously stopped breathing, stopped moving altogether, as his hands snaked down to the hem of her nightdress and up underneath._

_ "Breathe," he spoke in a low voice, just above a whisper; his hot breath softly moving over her lips. He chuckled lightly as she trembled beneath him, "Relax, love. This isn't anything new."_

_ She nodded distractedly and took short, shallow little breaths that only served to cause her to become dizzy. "It's nothing new," she whispered, "Nothing—ah!" _

_ "Relax," he chuckled, kissing her mouth, her chin, her neck, her collarbone...he looked up and smirked, "One might think you were a virgin."_

_ This brought her back to reality and brought a fire into her eyes, "What are you saying?" she quipped, digging her nails into the exposed flesh of the man's arms until she was sure to leave a mark._

_ "There you are," he smiled. "That's the woman I remember."_

_ "Severus," she breathed, her eyes flashing, "get on with it," she bucked against him, grinding her hips into his._

_ Severus took a deep breath, wandlessly divested them both of their clothing, then did just as she had asked; entering in one swift thrust. She sucked in a breath, "Fuck."_

-o-o-o-

The man stood, breathing steadily, staring straight ahead.

Contemplating.

Vienna lay curled on the bed, cradling her head muttering several expletives at the pain of having someone rummage through her memories. It'd been ages since someone had done that and she'd forgotten how much it hurt.

And _damn_ did it hurt.

After what felt like hours to both parties, Vienna finally broke the silence, sitting up and looking her Severus with the most pained look in her eyes. "Well?" Surely nothing good could come of this man's elongated silence.

Finally he spoke; "It's the magic of this house. Lucius' house is volatile, Vienna…you're very vulnerable to it and my presence as of late has not helped matters in any way. It pains me to say this but I believe it would be best if I were to stay away."

The pain that struck her was visible, "No! No! You are not leaving me again, Severus Tobias. I will not have it."

"You don't have a choice in the matter," he replied stoically, taking a deep breath and looking at her coldly. "You need to let me go."

She stood suddenly and clutched his shoulders, searching his face for any sign that he was jesting, but found nothing but a cold emptiness. "I am _not_ letting you leave me," she grit out. "There has to be another way."

With a gentle but firm grip, he took ahold of her hands and removed them from his person.

And then her heart broke into thousands of pieces again because in the next moment he was gone.  
Just.

Gone.

-o-o-o-

It was time to throw that one last wrench into the mechanics of her mind; granted this was not the way he had intended to go about doing so. _Damn Severus._ He threw the empty scotch glass across the room and sneered at the sheer muggleness of not simply blowing things up. He was acting like a spoiled brat, but really…that wasn't what he was expecting to have happened.

Anything but that.

Horrific memories of her brother, maybe.  
Imagined hauntings of her unborn children, perhaps.

But _not_ that. He didn't think that, under the circumstances, under the dark magic, her mind would go that way.

_Damn him!_ Lucius took a deep breath and called for Gilby to clean the mess he'd made and bring him a new drink, something stronger.

_You damned, greasy bastard, you never deserved her. How in the _hell_ have you managed to keep her even after all these years when all you did was fuck her and leave her?_ The blonde man absently took the drink the creature handed him and swirled it around. _She wants for so much more, deserves so much more. You left her to a fate which left her to a megalomaniac husband and a life of horror…what in Merlin's name have you done to deserve her devotion?_

He shook his head and downed a burning gulp of the amber liquid he'd been handed and grimaced. _I honestly hope this will be the breaking point…for all of it. I have such plans for her._

_ Such plans._


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I know, I know, I took a couple extra days to post than planned, but...life. I hope the length of the chapter makes up for how long it may be until I can get chapter 9 up. I have the lead roll in the spring play and have 2 weeks to memorize my lines as well as two other smaller scripts to memorize...and then there's the practices and performances! Oh golly. If you're ever interested, I have a tumblr that I try to update about the story or with the occasional drabble (none of which I've been brave enough to post) under the same name: ForeverInVienna. As always, thanks to imustprofess for being a fantastic duckybeta, even if she is a bit of a potato sometimes...other than that Happy Christmas, if you don't celebrate Christmas then Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year! Please review. I've set out a platter of treats for you all. :)  
-C**

**January, 2009**

"You can forget it," Vienna sniped, glaring at the locked door of her bathroom. On the other side was the bearer of all bad news, her jailor, her guardian, and now apparently the only man that would ever have contact with her again. "I'm going to stay in here and I'm going to waste away and die and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Is that a challenge?" the bored drawl came from the other side of the door, accompanied by a soft thud. Apparently he was leaning against the door.

_Cocky bastard._

"If you've forgotten I _do_ have a wand and am even capable of a fair bit of wandless magic…"

"Right, flaunt that in my face while you're at it," she pounded her fist on the door irritably, causing Lucius to jump in surprise. Vienna turned on her heel and retreated into the further 'recesses' of the bathroom, perching herself on the ledge of the bathtub. "Can't you just leave me to wallow in my misery, you self-serving prick?"

"Really, language, Vienna," he chided. "And no. Even if the Dark Lord is choosing to pursue his mission as a man unattached, he still wishes to see you well looked-after."

"You mean as a newly single man, he's worried about having his nutters ex wife running amok and causing him trouble, especially when she _knows_ so much. Oh Merlin, no. Can't have that, now can we? And can't _really_ have attention drawn to the fact that he's the one that drove his dearly beloved wife nuts either…I bet this is all going over quite quietly, isn't it? Psh, what a fucker."

"Vienna—"

"What happened to all the 'milady' horseshit, hm?" She picked up a bar of soap and threw it at the door. "You are all. Just. Cowards!"

Lucius sighed and looked heavenward as if for help, standing erect, "Are we getting somewhere to the centre of your problems?"

"Piss off."

He smirked, "I can't. You've locked me out of the lavatory."

"Yes, indeed I have. Do you know what that means?" she seethed, glaring at the door, "It means that I wish to be left alone. I want you to go away. I need space!"

"I'm afraid that in your condition that is simply not an option, especially considering the news you've just been given," he reasoned, glancing around her room with a mild interest. The place looked a mess, it was barely recognizable as the room it was when he had moved her in. He didn't have to guess when she began wreaking the most havoc on the place, but he did wonder how she managed to live in such conditions…and why Gilby wasn't fixing it.

"My 'condition'?" Vienna sneered, standing abruptly, walking to the door, and opening it so suddenly he was almost startled.

Almost.

"My 'condition," she repeated, glaring at him with a look he had seen only in rabid animals. "Oh right, my condition. That thing I keep hearing about—that thing I've been hearing about for how long?" she took a step forward and he stood his ground, looking down coolly at her. "That thing you people keep telling me I have to worry about, that I must wait out. I must be careful because of my 'condition', I mustn't go out because of my 'condition', I mustn't be seen because of my 'condition', I need to have my wand taken away because of my 'condition'." Vienna took yet another step toward him, glaring up at him snarling, "Would you mind telling me what in Merlin's name is this 'condition'? Because I feel fine. I feel more than fine. I feel fantastic," her eyes flashed. "_Especially_ considering the news I've just been given."

The blonde wizard raised a brow and looked for a moment to her bed and then back to the crazed woman before him, "I think you need to have a lie-down."

"A lie-down," she laughed, "right. Do I _look_ like I need a lie-down? Malfoy, I am a free woman now, that is the only 'condition' I can see that I am afflicted with. I'd like my wand back so I might be on my way."

Lucius looked her carefully in the eyes, "That's not possible, and you very well know it. Just because you are now divorced does not mean that you do not need tended to. In fact, you are legally my ward until you have shown significant signs of improvement."

"A prisoner?" she snorted.

"A guest," he offered, knowing it was a lie, though wishing it were true.

"Don't even," she turned away starting towards her bed. However, Lucius was by now used to her magic-less releases of anger. By the time she had turned around to attack him he was ready to catch her after a silent spell to put the poor thing to sleep. He carried her to the lumps of covers and pillows that she called a bed and laid her down.

Lucius walked out of her room and closed the door, magically locking it before making his way to his study for yet another drink. However, when he got there, he was quite surprised to find the looming figure of Rafael Gaunt standing beside his fireplace. The man was dressed impeccably in black robes, his dark hair slicked back, and his even darker eyes fixed expectantly on the older wizard. "So," he waved the door shut and summoned a leather armchair to seat himself in, "how did it go?"

Lucius took in a deep breath and pursed his lips, trying not to think of how eerily similar to his cousin that Rafael was becoming—coming in and out of his abode unannounced (and at particularly inconvenient times) on a whim. "How one would expect, I should suppose, milord. She locked herself in the bathroom and threw all sorts of expletives at me…perhaps some objects too, but there _was_ a door in the way."

It was almost imperceptible, but a small smile crossed Rafe's lips, "That sounds like her. Tell me, did she try hitting you?" A strange sort of nostalgic fondness maybe?

The blonde scoffed and gave a nod, "An attempted full attack, actually. Finding out that she won't be regaining any of her freedoms didn't help matters any, of course. She sees herself as a prisoner-"

"As well she should," he waved it off.

"—and the fact that I will be in charge of her _certainly_ soured her mood."

"She's a liability. She's a loose cannon, if you will, Lucius. Frankly I don't trust Narcissa with her care—that little hellcat can be a manipulative bitch, she'd probably weasel her way out into public. Besides, your wife has become a valuable asset in the public eye."

"I am well aware," his reply was bland. "I'm glad she can be of such use to your image, _Minister_."

"As am I," Rafe said, standing.

Lucius studied the dark man a moment before speaking, "Regarding how to proceed; what freedoms _should _she be granted, if any? If I may, it is not helping her state of mind to be kept in her rooms all of the time."

Rafe regarded him almost carelessly as he grabbed a bit of powder to make the trip through the Floo network, "Use your own judgement, Lucius. As long as she stays on your grounds and is not seen or heard, I don't give a damn. It's my advice to you, however, that you don't give that bitch her wand, though." He smiled cheekily, "Good day," and turned to the fireplace, "Minister's office!"

Lucius just stood there for a good while, staring at the empty fireplace and mulling this over in his mind; not only at the fact that he basically had the freedom to do as he wished but…but in the course of much less than a decade this man had managed to go from unknown to Minister of Magic.

Not only an unknown…but an unknown with a sordid family history.

And less-than-amicable plans for the wizarding world, little did they know.

But why should he be bothered by all of this? What he wanted was now so close he could taste it.

_It will bother her._ He cursed, rubbing his eyes with a hand rather irritably. _Gods, this will bother her more than the divorce._

-o-o-o-

Vienna snuggled closer to the form that lay next to her until she realized…_No one should be here. Unless—_

Her eyes flew open and she bolted upright, staring down at her companion: _Pillows. Sodding pillows._

The distraught witch covered her face in her hands and grumbled something incoherently, laying back down with a thud. She turned to look at the pillows again and regarded them as though they may, perhaps, answer her problems. Instead of animating themselves and spilling forth the knowledge she was waiting for they just sat in their still unhelpful state. With a heavy sigh she closed her eyes and prayed for a deep and dreamless sleep to overtake her body, but no such luck was to come her way; not in the near future.

Instead, she lay there wide awake and fuming.

_Fine, just up and leave, Severus. Just up and leave like everyone else fucking has. Even Rafe! Hah, would you believe that cocky, narcissistic, self-centered, chauvinistic, unbelievably self-righteous dolt left me? Not only did he leave me but he had to have his pet come tell me! He's not brave enough to face me even though I've been stripped of my wand._

_ What a bitch._

_ Speaking of—Malfoy had the audacity to suggest my further imprisonment here is only because Rafael is looking after my best interest—I know better than that! Hell, Malfoy knows better than that. Why bother lying? Ugh and why do I bother even talking to you? I'm not even…_

"Merlin!" she turned over and screamed into her pillow until her throat felt raw.

It didn't take long before Lucius came calmly walking in to see what all the fuss was about; she was still face-down in her pillow and quiet except for a few raspy sobs. He frowned and silently made his way over to her bed, setting his cane just out of her reach before sitting next to her on the edge. "Would it help to talk about it?" he asked in a low, almost comforting voice.

She lifted her head up to look at the intruder through wet lashes and a curtain of mussed hair causing Lucius to chuckle. "Aren't you a sight," cautiously, as though she may bite, he moved the hair out of her face.

Vienna snarled, though it was obvious her heart was hardly in it, "Don't you have somewhere to be? I should think Tweedle Dee would need his Tweedle Dum."

"Mind how you speak of the Dark Lord," he chided, lightly patting her cheek.

"Why? He obviously doesn't give much mind to me, or you for that matter if you're stuck watching the ex-wife."

Lucius tilted his head to one side as though he might be considering her words, "If you are insinuating that the Dark Lord needs my services, you are wrong. It seems that things have been going even smoother for him in my public absence. Society tends to better embrace the wronged woman than a former member of the Inner Circle."

"Cissy. Cissy, working with Rafe?"

"Indeed. One of us has to be in order to insure Draco's safety."

"At least _someone _got away. Well isn't that is just brilliant. So not only am I to be stuck here for the rest of my natural life, but I am also to be stuck here with _you_. I'd rather be stuck by Rafael's side," she grumped, turning on to her back. "At least when I was at his side, I had my magic. I had some freedom."

"Actually, Vienna, about that—"

"What? Am I going to be put into the dungeons now?"

"-Hardly. Unless, of course, that is your wish?" he smirked at the pouting witch. "What I was going to say, is that I have been given permission to give you some more privileges….privileges that could increase in time with good behavior."

"So I am a prisoner."

"Only if you act like one," Lucius stood and took his wand from his cane, twirling it thoughtfully. "I have every intention of letting you have free reign of the Manor and back garden for the time being…with the exception of the front rooms and my reception rooms, of course. You may try to leave if you wish, but you will find that a rather unpleasant experience."

"Really?" she tried her hardest to keep hopefulness from leaking into her voice, but it'd been months since she'd had more than a small room to look at…even if there weren't people to interact with, she would, perhaps, have paintings to converse with. _How dull!_ But how exciting?! "Well what about my wand?" she lifted a brow in her best imitation of Severus.

"Not yet, Vienna. Not yet."

"Do you know how much it hurts?" she crawled toward him and sat on her knees, looking up. "Do you know how badly it hurts to keep your magic inside for so long? The physical need to release it? _Merlin_ I can hardly bear it, I sometimes wonder if that's what's driven me crazy."

Lucius' expression quickly turned grim, "Of course I do. I spent some time Azkaban, if you'll remember. I came out rather worse for wear…"

"There was more than one reason for that, Malfoy; your 'master' was hardly pleased with you."

"And look at you," he sneered, "displeasing _both_ masters. Displeasing all you come across, really, you must. Who has stayed with you?" It came out before he could think about it, but that damn woman was so antagonistic sometimes!

"I couldn't _possibly_ displease you, Malfoy," she hissed, "I have no want to please you. No care to please you," she stood next to her bed now, hardly eye-to-eye with him, not even toe-to-toe, but certainly holding his gaze with a fire-starting intensity. "You can leave me, go right on, I will not miss you. In fact I might just rejoice."

_Take a deep breath,_ he told himself. _What an annoying little chit._ Lucius looked at the floor and back up to the angered witch. "What shall I tell you? You wouldn't believe an apology for my quick words and I cannot leave you. We must come to some sort of truce."

"Please," tears were now coming to her eyes. "Just…God, Lucius! Can't you see-" she made to hit him but he managed to take in both of her delicate wrists in one hand and bring her into his embrace with his other arm. And there she cried for a while.

She didn't scream, she didn't curse, she didn't resist, and she even didn't try killing anyone. She just fell into his embrace and cried, letting out years of the sadness and pain that she had bottled up into cynicism. When he was sure that her claws would stay in, Lucius released her hands and ran his fingers through her matted and tangled hair. The poor creature looked every inch the insane thing that Rafe was telling his Inner Circle she had become. To the rest of the world, she had already been phased out, replaced by Narcissa Gaunt nee Malfoy.

He didn't dare tell her that part; it would surely be the final criminal on the Hippogriff's back. It had made _him_ upset to say the least—not the divorce, no the divorce he could handle; Cissa uniting herself with the Dark Lord?-but 'anything for his Lord and Master'…anything to keep Draco safe.

Lucius could feel the wetness of her tears beginning to seep through his robes; he looked down at her shaking form and held her tighter, hushing her. "You're not alone, Vienna," he whispered. "No matter how many may leave, you're never alone."

He felt her still and her face shift upward, in a rattily voice she half laughed, "Is that supposed to be comforting? It wasn't—it was just feckin' creepy."

"Now, now, be nice," he wiped her face gently with the pads of his thumbs, "I'm not well-known for my humanity, after all."

"Not exactly," she conceded, hiding her face in his robes again.

Once more, he wrapped his arms around the witch, tucking her under his chin and closing his eyes. It felt like he should say something else to her, but nothing was right. What _could_ he say to her? What was there to say to the woman whose sanity you helped tear apart?

But perhaps she wasn't so sane to begin with…

That thought didn't help.

"Malfoy?"

"Hm?"

"I really must be nutters," she giggled airily, fisting her hands into his robes, "I hear a heart in this chest of yours; a rhythmic, steady-beating heart. How are you doing that?"

"Same as anyone else, I suppose," he replied dryly, "I was born with it, you know. I suspect everyone is, even the vilest of mankind."

"Are you trying to say that you're human?" she looked up at him in mock incredulity, "That something links you with everyone else? You're no different on the inside than anyone else?"

"Hardly," he sneered, letting her go as if burnt and turning away to put his wand back into his cane. "I'm of a superior breed."

"Like dogs," she supplied, sitting on her bed and smiling, laughing. "Have you people ever listened to yourselves talk? 'Superior breed!' It's hilarious."

"No, mudbloods are like dogs."

"My dear, sweet, naïve Malfoy, I don't think you hear yourself. If you are a 'superior breed' and muggleborns are dogs, then you, too, are dogs. Perhaps you are thinking of yourselves as a completely different species? It's been a while since I took biological science, but—"

"Sometimes I forget you were raised among the wolves."

"Better to be raised by wolves than among the sheep!" she fired back, dizzying with anger. "I know how to handle myself without my magic, no matter how painful. I know how to appreciate others. I can think for myself, unlike _some_!"

Lucius managed a sardonic smile before turning away and silently spluttering curses. _Infuriating woman, infuriating…_He turned around, looking at her in a manner that probably should have had her running, but instead the hardheaded woman advanced; looking every inch Narcissa's departed sister, Bellatrix, and now beginning to act the part. It both angered and frightened him.

"What is it Lucius?" she pouted, "Did I say something that hit the wrong chord?"

He cleared his throat and looked at the floor quickly, "_We_ will be dining in my private dining chambers this evening. I suggest you bathe; Gilby will bring you something clean to wear." And with that, he left.

-o-o-o-

Lucius sat in the large, leather chair, staring into the fire once more; a fire he would almost like to throw his ward into. But alas, he had been entrusted with her care and, dare he admit it, worked too hard to get there. Throwing her into a fiery pit would do him no good…and what would he tell the Dark Lord?—worse, what if the Dark Lord never asked?

Probably just as well.

The flames turned green and a small, blonde, tot came bounding through the flames and into Lucius' lap before he had a chance to register what was happening. "Grandda!" Little arms wrapped themselves around his neck and squeezed tight, "Grandda, I think I am happy to see you!"

Lucius hugged the tiny boy with one arm and set the cigar he had been considering lighting down with the other. "Oh really? You think so? I would have to agree with you." He held the boy at arm's length and studied him carefully. He'd only seen the child in passing before, but there was no mistaking it, "Scorpius, _what_ are you doing here?"

The flames turned green once more and in walked Draco, tall and proud just like his father, but with the quiet dignity of his mother. "I see Scorpius managed to sneak through," he muttered. "I told Astoria the powder should be kept higher…"

"Draco," Lucius smiled warmly albeit wearily, "It's been some time."

"Quite," the younger man replied, his tone clipped. He gathered his son from Lucius' lap and held him protectively.

An awkward, long silence fell between them in which Draco did nothing but glare at his father and the latter acted uncharacteristically fidgety as if he were about to be interrogated…though considering present company, an interrogation was completely possible. At long last, however, the silence became too much and had to be broken: "Have you come to test your wandless magic on me?" Lucius erupted irritably, "You are sorely failing if such is the case."

"No, Father," Draco snarled, setting Scorpius down, "I actually came to speak with you about some news that has been circulating…though I would prefer to do this without—"

The eldest Malfoy cast Draco a wary look before turning to his grandson, "Scorpius, I think there are a couple of old deerhounds that are just the right size to give you rides if you just chased them down. I can have Gilby help you find them, if you want."

"Dogs!" the thrilled child ran over to the door as though he knew where he was going while Lucius summoned his favoured house elf to escort and supervise the toddler. Once both elf and child were gone, Draco became much less reserved:

"What did you do to Mother that finally caused her to leave you? She stayed with you through the _very_ worst and _now_ chooses to leave you? For the Minister…the _younger_ Minister. At one time it could have been for social standing or gods forbid it, love, but she wouldn't even leave you to keep her goddamn son. So tell me, Father, _what the hell_ did you do to my mother?"

"For someone who disowned their mother, you are very protective—for your information, Draco, I have done nothing to your mother. I cannot explain her motive, though I have my speculations…"

"By all means, _sir_, you have the floor," Draco mockingly bowed and took a seat, watching Lucius expectantly.

_Inhale slowly, deeply. Now exhale. _"I'm sure you were aware of my campaigning for the Minister; I was also a close friend of his, and your mother became very close with his wife—"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"If you'd let me finish, you'd find out!—I suspect when his wife began her mental downward spiral that Cissa and Rafael got very close, leaning on each other for support as they both cared very dearly for Ms. Gaunt. I suppose it was only natural," _Some of my greatest lies._

"That's it?" Draco's eyebrows went to his hairline, "Really? You expect me to believe that load of thestralshit?"

"Believe what you want, but at the bequest of the both of them, I am the legal guardian of the former Mrs. Gaunt, now. I have the space, the elves, the connections—all that is needed to keep a former insane spouse incredibly discreet. Besides, this way she never has to know of the betrayal of her best friend and former husband. "

"And why would you go along with it?" Draco inquired skeptically.

"Because the man is Minister." _To keep you from having to get in the middle of it all once more._

"And you're afraid of the law," Draco deadpanned. "No, there is something in this for you—there is always something in it for you."

"I understand if you have more you wish to discuss but I do believe it is about dinner time. Please join me and if you still have such disdain for me as you did when you arrived, then let us never make an issue of it again."

Draco sat in contemplative silence for a moment, then he rose and held out his right hand, "Civility in front of my son, understood?"

"I—of course," Lucius shook his son's hand firmly and gestured for him to lead the way.

It wasn't long before they found the youngest Malfoy tugging at poor Labros' ears to come to a grinding halt yelling, "Whoa, horsey! Whoa! Stop! Now get along little doggy."

"Shall we eat, Scorpius? I am absolutely famished."

"I think we should," came the happy little reply from the boy as he bounded to his father and grandfather.

When they arrived in the dining room Lucius was pleased to find Vienna already waiting for him; disgruntled and gorgeous. She was absently stirring her tea around in a rather exasperated manner, taking no precautions not to let the spoon clink against the porcelain. The witch nearly knocked her chair back when she stood upon noticing the guests.

She certainly wasn't Narcissa in her glory days but that woman was hard to beat. Vienna had more of a down-to-earth look to her; she had her (clean) dark locks swept out of her face into something of a messy braid, her makeup was done nicely if not a tad dark, but he was never one to gripe about a woman's makeup. And the dress—one he'd picked out personally—looked positively delicious; a slim, one-shouldered, red dress really…_This isn't the time._

"Ms. Gaunt, this is my son, Draco, and my grandson, Scorpius. They will be joining us for dinner this evening."

Vienna blinked back her confusion and bowed her head politely, "Very nice to meet you."

"Same to you, I'm sure," Draco replied uneasily.

"I think…I think I like your eyebrows," Scorpius pointed at Vienna and grinned "Yes, I like your eyebrows."

Draco coughed, attempting to cover an embarrassed laugh. "I believe you mean 'eyes', son. You do have stunning eyes, Ms., Scorpius has been learning parts of the body but sometimes he gets a bit confused."

Vienna smiled at the tiny blonde, "Why thank you, sweetheart. You know, I think I like your eyes too. You have very pretty eyes."

"I think we both have bl…bl-yee-ooh eyes," he said tilting his head to one side.

"He's also in this strange phase of starting his sentences with 'I think'…" Draco muttered and Vienna was sure there was a hint of annoyance in the statement.

While Vienna and Scorpius debated on what colour their eyes were, Lucius stood aghast that the two-year-old was speaking as plainly as he was. He looked curiously over to Draco, "How long has he been talking like this?"

Draco shrugged, "He started babbling insanity at about six months. Sometimes I was afraid he'd babble us into oblivion—the kid came pretty close to some dark magic." He chuckled briefly, remembering the little chunk stumbling across some 'naughties'. "It progressed pretty rapidly from there. I'd say he's been making sentences for a month or two, now. He'll be three in May, you know."

"Have I really missed so much?" Lucius looked at the miniature of his son in awe as the small hands were playing with loose strands of the witch's dark hair—mesmerized at how different it was from his own.

"That and much more," Draco said sadly, "But it's not…completely your fault."

Vienna reached out and tickled the tyke, who promptly ran 'round and hid behind his grandfather. She reached to 'attack' Scorpius once more but froze as soon as she came in contact with the fabric of Lucius' trousers. In all of the childish fun she had forgotten where she was and the company she kept; it caused an uncomfortable feeling to spread throughout, one that made her catch her breath. She looked up tentatively in hopes that Lucius hadn't noticed, but through her lashes she saw him looking down at her with the most unreadable of expressions. After staring at him a moment too long she lowered her eyes and stood.

"Right…" she brushed out imaginary wrinkles in her dress, "Shall we sit, boys? I don't know about you all, but I am quite hungry."

"Agreed," Draco piped up, mentally shaking himself of the strange moment and filing a few questions away to ask his father later. "The Châteaubriand looks and smells delicious." He picked up his son and set him in his high chair, magically securing him in there; Merlin knew any other method and the tiny rascal would work his way out.

Lucius pulled a chair out graciously for Vienna, who sat down timidly.

Everyone put their attention into eating at once, it seemed almost universally understood that most topics were taboo. They couldn't exactly talk about family matters in front of their guest; they couldn't very well speak about politics because of what that entailed. Every time a topic was brought up, the thoughts that trailed after it eventually led to something that would lead to some sort of disaster. And disasters couldn't be had in front of Scorpius. Thus the conversation died.

Even Scorpius noticed the tension, "I think it is time to get out of here. I want to play," and with that the little high chair began to levitate off the floor and back away from the table. Draco stood immediately and took out his wand, casting a sticking charm on the boy's chair.

"Actually, Scorpius, it's time to eat and behave."

All was silent throughout the rest of the meal; not even Scorpius felt like further commenting on his 'thoughts'. It wasn't until the table was cleared and Vienna made a gracious polite, almost unnoticeable exit, excusing herself to the Malfoy library that anyone dared to speak once more.

"For a witch that's supposed to be a basket case she seemed quite balanced to me. The closest to unbalance I saw was that little moment between the two of you," Draco observed, leaning back in his chair, staring down Lucius accusingly.

"Draco, you weren't born yet, but there was a time when your aunt Bella was much the same way—seemingly normal most of the time. It's that remaining part that is what is important however; the hallucinations-living in a completely different reality, the violent fits, the childish games…I swear sometimes that she is two different people…" with a sigh, Lucius cradled his head in his hands. "It's exhausting, really."

His son, however wasn't buying it. The younger man scoffed, "Exhausting, I'm sure; she is a _very_ pretty thing. I'm sure you aren't doing this without an ulterior motive."

Lucius' head snapped up, annoyance flashing through his eyes. "Do I need to remind you that your _mother_—not I—was the one who chose to end this marriage?"

"Which I _still_ don't understand!" Draco nearly shouted, scaring Scorpius to tears. With a grimace he stood and picked the boy up; holding him close, "It's okay, Scorp. I'm sorry if I scared you."

Scorpius hiccupped and buried his face in the crook of his father's shoulder, "I love you, Daddy. Do you still love me?"

Draco took a deep breath, put Scorpius on the ground, and knelt eye-level with him; he spoke very firmly but with a very soft tone, "Scorpius, why would you ask me that? Of course I love you, I will always love you—no matter what. You are my son. Granddad and I are just a bit…upset with each other." _A bit_.

"Do you still love Granddad?" he sniffled.

"Would you like to go play with Theron and Labros again?" Lucius asked the toddler softly; interrupted partially to save his son from answering—mostly because he was afraid of the answer. "I can have Gilby take you again if you'd like."

The child lit up quickly and Lucius summoned the elf who was more than happy to take the child back to play with the dogs.

"Alright, here we are," the patriarch gestured widely around the empty room, "Nobody around to frighten. Tear into me as you see fit, son."

Exasperated, Draco sat down, "Why? Do you think that will make everything better? Do you really think getting this all out on the table will fix _seventeen years_ of your putting me in danger—gods know how long of putting mother in danger? And who knows how many innocent people got in your way and had to be 'taken care of'?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Let it go. Just…let it go. There is nothing you _can_ do to make it better, I'm just going to have to get over it over time, I suppose…especially now that Scorpius has met the mysterious grandfather. Besides, it seems you've managed to change…and it might be easier to forget you as that disgusting bigot if I have new memories. Who knows, maybe you'll die off soon," he smirked slightly and shook his head. "Maybe your patient will kill you."

Lucius was certainly confused, but he wasn't about to let this opportunity to have his son back pass him by. He coolly brushed off the death predictions and smiled, "I find that an agreeable idea. I think you'll find me much better company; you should come over with Astoria some time for a proper dinner."

"And how do you propose that with a patient running around in your house?"

"I shall have her dine in her room or wherever she deems fit."

"I still don't completely understand _why_ she is here; this house is hardly the best place for someone that already has problems upstairs—what with all this house has seen. The dark magic lurking around here could suffocate what's left of her mind."

Lucius put his hands up, "I tried telling this to the Minister but he was insistent and bent on discretion. He said no other place would do…such a politician, really." _Worse than a politician, really but that's neither here nor there…_

"Really," Draco repeated flatly and stood. "I think I should be getting on home. Astoria will be worrying."

"Right. Until later, Draco."

"Father," he nodded stiffly and opened the doors to track down his brat.

-o-o-o-

_The day has been long indeed, for Lucius Malfoy_, he thought as he sank back into his chair, absently waving for the elves that had appeared to clear off the table.

In some ways it almost felt longer than the days he'd had in Azkaban; at least there he felt some sense of normalcy and security. He knew what to expect from the prison, and although it was destroying him mentally and physically, it was almost soothing compared to the strain of being under the Dark Lord's thumb.

Here he was again, back at the beck and call of a megalomaniac bent on domination of the wizarding world. _What a coward._

He knew that following such self-righteous leaders only led to his own fall and, upon first hearing of the man seeking his help, was determined to turn him down. But Cissa was convinced that, due to his lineage, he would be a threat and it would be best to get in early. Perhaps the tale he spun for Draco wasn't so far off…it would be too much of a wonder. It wasn't as though they were a love match; sure they had grown somewhat fond of one another over the years but any fondness that was left was surely disintegrated by the time he had put Draco in danger's path.

Perhaps this was all just an out for her…

It didn't matter. Not all that much. He was more concerned with other matters much closer at hand; like the very thrilling yet devastating issue of his son.

Draco was offering one last chance, one small olive branch for him to grasp at; he was, against his better judgment, giving him a chance to show him that he had changed himself from the piece of shit he had been. He could be involved in his son's life again; he could be a proper grandfather to Scorpius.

But was he so different from how he had been? Lucius cradled his head in his hands and grit his teeth.

Had he really stopped using people for his own gain, quit using the Dark Arts, stopped lying? Hardly.

How had he gained Vienna? The problems between Rafael and the witch weren't all organic—certainly not in the beginning, anyhow. To his knowledge she was a sane woman with a bad temper and a history of bad choices yet retained a degree of innocence.

Human.

Perhaps that's what made him want her so. She wasn't perfect and she accepted it; Severus was far from perfect and she _loved_ him. He supposed that maybe thought that since she accepted Severus she might accept him.

He toyed with that—toyed with her weaknesses in unforgivable ways until she snapped and landed in his house; until her husband divorced her. Now he had her completely for himself.

No, he had not changed.

And what if Draco found out about this? What if for some reason he left the two of them alone and together they found him out? What if Draco found him out to still be the conniving piece of shit he really was and Vienna to be the secretive, sneaky, horrifying monster that he was? But he wanted so desperately to have these people in his life that he had to manage this. He would have to make them work for his favour—if it all played out correctly, Vienna could show Draco how well he'd progressed. She could show him that Lucius had rehabilitated, by rehabilitating her. Draco could show Vienna that Lucius was capable of being human, as she so obviously thought him incapable of being…not thinking he had a heart. He would be more alone than ever before: more alone than when he had been physically alone, more alone than when even all those around him had turned their backs on him, more alone than when he knew those he called 'friend' were foe.

It would take work, but it would be worth it.

In the meantime, he prayed that Draco would have the sense not to mention Vienna to anyone.

That _would_ be the death of him.

**AN: I'm sorry if this chapter seems like a filler. It isn't-I feel like it's necessary to show the humanity of the characters before I move on any further. It seems logical. I don't know why I feel so insecure about this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, Happy Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a fantastic [safe] New Year!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Super long time, I know. I've been working on making my dream career a reality (and it's happening) and well, then there's end of term. I've been working on this chapter since last December. I'm so sorry it's so short for something that's taken so long. I can't really promise a pacing for chapter posting but I can promise that I will keep updates about my progress on my tumblr. Thank you so much for staying with this and, if you're just joining, thanks for reading. :-) Reviews are greatly appreciated and do feed my muse. Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank my beta, imustprofess (or as I prefer to refer to her, my duckybeta.) On with the show, my friends.  
-C**

**January 2009**

After Draco and Scorpius had left, Lucius found himself in the library looking for Vienna. But he took his time; the library was daunting, overwhelming, and breathtaking.

And his. She wouldn't be hard to find.

He looked around the tall room that…_Voldemort_...had used as a sanctuary from the chaos of his own making during his stay at Wiltshire. It had never quite gotten back to the former warmth it had once held since then. Even though sunlight filtered in through the windows all around it hardly created a welcoming feeling; it now felt…grey, cold, lifeless, and dark. This made it incredibly easy for Lucius to seek out the woman's warmth, for all her problems, for the emptiness she felt, she still had hope buried somewhere deep within her. She was like a brightly burning candle in the darkest room.

No, she wouldn't be hard to find at all.

He began stalking her as a cat stalks a mouse or a crazed man might taunt a tiger with fire; he was silent in his perusal, watching her every movement as she searched the endless bookcases with wide-eyed wonder. He saw her wont to touch the books—bringing the tips of her fingers so close to the volumes and ghosting over their bounding—but the fear of the dark magic they held, the fear of what some of them may do kept her from ever coming into contact with them; and fear she should. He owned some of the darkest books known to wizards; he owned some of the darkest artifacts. Just touching a mere fiber of some of these things would induce the most painful of deaths, some things more painful than death.

Her delicate fingers, instead, trailed along the aging wood of the shelves as she moved down the aisles, looking at titles and taking in as much of his collection as she could. For a while she was oblivious to her shadow, delving further and further into the darkest section where Lucius kept the most dangerous, most rare pieces of his collection. He kept his distance and watched as she looked over some of the oldest, alluring pieces of dark magic still in existence. There were books on old, archaic spells that summoned demons from the very depths of hell to do one's bidding, ways to gain unfathomable gain but only for one's soul or soul of a loved one. There were rituals in there that were the basis of the very Unforgivable Curses that were (or not) in use of late, and some of the most grotesque and twisted blood magic.

This wasn't of course to say anything of the wand of the late Gellert Gridelwald, fangs of a Basilisk, a journal of Salazar Slytherin, skulls of the first known mudbloods to attempt to enter the wizarding world, and several other rather uncomely things one wouldn't want to think of at the dinner table.

Paranoia was beginning to kick in; the overwhelming draw of the dark was, though strong, fading to the back of her mind as Vienna began to pick up on strange sounds. Was it the books or was there someone there?

Lucius watched her with a small smirk creeping along his features, she was so like a child that had followed the pretty butterfly into the forest, and not realizing it was taking her to danger until it was too late. He let her worry for a few more minutes before making his presence known, tapping his cane lightly on the floor at his side. The woman jumped and turned on her heel, nearly falling back into the books.

"Careful," he murmured, taking a step towards her and gesturing to their surroundings with a glove-clad hand, "We are in a very dangerous section of the library. You don't want to touch anything." He said this as he gently picked a volume out of the collection and stroked it absently.

"Goddammit, Malfoy! You can't just—how can you do that?" she asked, approaching him slowly.

His smirk grew, "Charmed dragonhide gloves."

"I see," her gaze darted furtively between the man and the book. "What is this one?"

"This one," Lucius flipped the book carefully so he could read the spine, "is _Anime Nexus_. It is full of ways to bind one's soul to another for various purposes." With just as much care, Lucius put the book in its proper place.

"Is there anything here that won't kill me at the first touch?" she asked quietly, looking around nervously. "I feel like everything in this room is poisoned with hatred and Dark Magic."

"Not quite. The room has just seen quite a bit of hatred and Dark Magic, not to mention that you've wandered into the darkest section. If you were looking for a little 'light' reading, you need to follow me." He tucked her arm through his and wove them through the library until she came to an area she felt like she could breathe, not to mention the books themselves looked far more inviting. "Here I have a collection of fiction, if you are interested."

"Absolutely," she replied, smiling. She loosed herself from Lucius and began reading titles excitedly, but still seemed reluctant to grab a book.

"You have permission to touch," he murmured, suddenly behind her. His voice sent shivers down her body and caused a coil of warmth to start in her belly that had long been cold. It scared her.

But it piqued her curiosity.

"Pardon?" she turned her head just enough so that she could see him leaning over her shoulder.

"I said," he took her hand in his and flattened it against the books, "that you have permission to touch. If that is your desire."

She stared, transfixed, at the large, gloved hand covering her comparatively small, pale one. "My…desire?" she choked on her words and looked back at Lucius.

Surely he was speaking in double meanings, he'd seen her start at the accidental touch at the very fabric of his clothes at dinner. He saw right through her traitorous thoughts—he'd seen the moment she'd felt like she was bowing to a magnificent, beautiful statue. Damn her muddled thoughts! Damn this man! She didn't want him! She didn't. She loved Severus.

She was devoted to Severus.

She pulled her hand away and turned to find her way out of the library to find that she hadn't the faintest idea of which way was out.

_Dammit, Malfoy!_

"Did you change your mind about the books?" he inquired lightly.

"I think so," she huffed, spinning to glare at him, not caring whether or not he understood why she was suddenly angry.

"Well then I'll just leave you to it," he began walking away until he heard her grumble something under her breath. He coolly hid his smile and turned to look at her, "Did you need help finding the way out?"

"If you would be _so_ kind," she replied through clenched teeth.

"Of course," he extended a hand for her to take which she refused.

"There's no reason to play nice, Malfoy, there's no family to impress. No husband of mine to humour. Just get me the hell out of this suffocating room."

"You don't want your wand back, then?" he raised a brow.

"Only to kill you," she muttered, taking his hand harshly, pulling back as if burned at the warmth he possessed. He'd taken his glove off.

_Bastard!_

Her heart beat rapidly in her chest at the spectacle she was making of herself; she was sure he could hear it. With as much nonchalance as she could muster, she put her hand back in his and tried ignoring the feelings that were overcoming her body.

"I'm sure you have others higher on your list to kill than myself," he chuckled, tucking her arm in his and rubbing the back of her hand soothingly with his thumb as they walked. It was dizzying; it was familiar.

"Not many," she sounded distracted, perhaps airy even to her own ears. She was trying to ignore her body's response and in the process was losing the rest of her composure; she cleared her throat, "You're pretty high up there."

"Perhaps I should be honoured," he cracked a smile and squeezed her hand, "Someone as affluent as you has someone as lowly as I on your agenda."

"Perhaps…" _Fuck it. _

She looked around for a distraction now. _Merlin, that man does _not _look like he's going on fifty-five._

"Are you alright, Vienna?" he stopped and turned her so that she was facing him. His face was all concern, but inwardly he was all excitement, she was where he wanted her.

"I'm…I'm fine," she picked some imaginary lint from her red dress, wishing she wasn't wearing it—not that she wished she were naked. No. Unclothed with Lucius Malfoy was the very last place she wanted to be. She just wanted to be wearing something else, something that covered more. She felt so…exposed.

He looked thoughtful a moment as he looked around them, "What is your favourite sort of book?"

"I don't know," Vienna shrugged and moved forward, where to, she wasn't exactly sure, but it was better than being stationary.

He followed along for some time, amused at her ambition—she had that. Direction, she had none. They ended up where he had revealed his presence, in the Dark Magic section. Like the moth to a flame, it seemed she was innately drawn to it.

"How do I get out of here?"

"By putting one foot in front of the other until you're walking out the door."

_Surely he didn't just…Santa? No. Just…no. _She shook her head, "That's not what I meant, smartass. If you're going to be like this all the time I swear that when I find my way out of here-" in all her frustration she tripped and nearly fell backward into the books. Gentleman that he was, Lucius caught her before Vienna could do any damage.

"You'll what?" he smirked, bringing her back to an upright position, yet not letting go.

The proximity between their bodies was dizzying, completely maddening. She didn't even feel in control of her own body, it was something different—something out of her grasp. After staring at him for several moments she kissed him; not a soft, demure kiss, but a forward, demanding kiss. She fisted one hand in the front of his robes and the other in his hair, trying to bring him closer to her, nearly backing them into a bookshelf—the very thing he had saved her from falling on.

"Careful," Lucius murmured against her lips.

"There is nothing 'careful' about this," she replied breathlessly.

"Indeed," he smirked, nipping gently at her mouth and her neck as he lifted her and set her down on a ladder he had wordlessly summoned.

It wasn't the most comfortable position—having the higher rungs of the ladder pushing into her back, but she didn't complain. Vienna wasn't paying too much mind to any pain; she was too focused on the feel of his mouth on hers, his body against hers. Merlin, she couldn't focus on anything else; she couldn't remember a time she had felt this good, this careless, this dizzy, or this electric.

As his mouth explored her neck, her shoulders, her chest, she vaguely noticed him wrapping her legs around his waist. She was so overcome with feelings that she barely registered his hands were skimming up her thighs. All feelings were one fantastic feeling.

And then a new, separate, fantastic feeling swept over her and she gasped; his dexterous fingers were ghosting over the place where her legs joined together, barely touching. She bowed her head forward with eyes closed, her mouth forming a pretty little 'o', and breathing labored. Both Vienna and Lucius were moaning almost in harmony as if they were Sirens in someone's odyssey. Or so it sounded to Lucius' ears.

It was fantastic.

Lucius smiled, stealing a glance at his prey, so beautiful with her hair tousled and that look of a pleasured surprise on her face. She didn't have the slightest idea.

He pressed his fingers more forcefully against her knicker-covered centre, watching her as she slowly leaned her head back against the ladder arching her whole body into him. She looked like an offering ready for the gods; bringing a leg up higher around the man without even realizing it, trying to receive more of his touch…but he knew she wasn't ready. She would hate him forever once she came to her senses if he went too far.

Vienna opened her eyes and cast her silver gaze on the man worshipping her, relinquishing her grip on his robes to tip his face up toward her so that she could kiss him. She wanted to feel his soft lips moving in time with hers again. And then her eyes fluttered shut as his mouth met hers again and the warmth of his hand was withdrawn from her centre. Things slowly began fading as she felt herself being lifted, or maybe that was the dizzying feeling of being with Lucius.

_Lucius? Dear God, forgive me._

-o-o-o-

The unfamiliar dark that surrounded Vienna gave her a start as she opened her drowsy, sticky, dry eyes.

_Merlin, what happened?_ She wondered as she turned her head to one side and reached out with a hand—meeting a soft cushioned back; presumably she was lying on a couch. _Where the hell am I?_

A very logical next question.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness and took in what little light there was filtering in from the curtained windows she noted numerous bookshelves surrounding her, an empty fireplace, a desk, a chair, and an old wooden coffee table. If she squinted enough she could almost make out the features on the faces of the sleeping portraits.

It didn't take her long to figure out where she was; the damned library.

Of _course_ Lucius wouldn't bother putting her in a nice warm bed. He _would_ leave her in the library to fret after...

Vienna buried her face in her hands and took a calming breath; "Merlin, what _did _I do?"

If her memory served her right, she spent a few minutes in uncontrolled lust with Lucius…allowing his wonderfully skilled hands to play her strings and her mind, teasing her until she was just about to sing his praises…His soft lips had moved against her own so perfectly...His breath tickling her skin and his voice rumbling in her ear…

She snapped out of her reverie as she realized just recalling the event had worked her up into another state of arousal.

_Fuck!_ She turned over to her side and squeezed her legs tightly together in an attempt to relieve her tension.

How had this happened? How had she dared let him affect her like this? She hated this man; she hated everything he stood for, his false demeanour, his manipulative, ruthless, ambitious, power-hungry ways. Above all she hated her sudden need for him; she hated how wanton she was. How easy had it been for him to insinuate himself between her legs?

Severus' best 'friend'.

Cissy's husband!

_What a whore!_—And what's worse, she'd enjoyed it. She'd _wanted_ it, encouraged, and even subconsciously went along with it. Would she have stopped if she hadn't passed out? That only opened another bag of Every Flavour Beans—likely of the vomit variety.

Why did she pass out? What was his presence doing to her?

She jumped as she heard soft footfalls approaching the secluded cove; no doubt they belonged to Lucius as Gilby was the only other being she could think of and he didn't have enough weight to make a sound.

The steps came closer and closer, stopping before her briefly before continuing on a few steps. When she squinted she could see that he had taken a seat and was in the process of opening a book to read by the light of his now-illuminated wand.

"You may as well light the fireplace, I'm wide awake," she slurred out. "Why I was asleep though, I can't imagine," she sent the man a piercing look.

Lucius tilted his head, only vaguely acknowledging her remarks until he got the feeling he was supposed to say something. He looked up from his reading material and took in her accusatory gaze, "I'm not sorry. If you're looking for an apology you won't find one here."

"What do you mean that you're not sorry?!" Vienna screeched at the infuriating wizard sitting so calmly in the chair adjacent to her. "I am most certainly sorry and _I'm_ not even the married party!"

"I mean that I feel no remorse for our actions," he replied, shrugging. "And frankly I don't feel like you should either."

"Well, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, I don't give a _damn_ how you feel!"

"Well, Vienna Althea, I happen to give a damn how _you_ feel," he lowered his book just enough to look at her over the edge of it, "I care how you feel, _what_ you feel…Despite any misconceptions you may have, I do care."

"So you show that you care by putting your hand up my skirt in the library?!"

"Actually," Lucius chuckled bringing his book back to eye-level, "Yes. And then I put you into a gentle slumber before you could do anything further that you would regret."

"Me?" she sat up too quickly and had to take a moment to regain her bearings, "A 'gentle slumber? Before _I_ could do anything further?'"

"Yes dear, _you_; if you'll remember _you_ initiated it, you little minx."

"I would have _never_…" she trailed off, recalling the event as it occurred and shut her mouth in a fixed line.

"And yet you did," the infuriating man only increased her silence; what could she say? She certainly wouldn't agree; she couldn't admit to being out-of-her-mind attracted to him. She hated him too much.

Vienna uncomfortably took in her surroundings during the wretched silence that fell over the pair as she lay down once more; it seemed this 'cozy' little nook was in some corner of the library she hadn't discovered. There was a fireplace nearby and an old desk paired with an uncomfortable wooden chair sitting just beneath a large window. If she hadn't seen his study before she might have thought this to be it, but there were no family portraits in the study. By the light of the fire she could make out several sleeping portraits—one that _had_ to be his father.

_Do all Malfoy men look the same? So beautiful, so cold, so—_"Fine! Fine, you smug bastard, I did! But you did something to me! I don't know _why _else I would be having these ridiculous…thoughts."

"Thoughts?" the book was set aside as Lucius leaned forward in his chair; a clear amusement glittered in his grey eyes. "What ridiculous thoughts, Vienna?"

"As if you didn't put them there," she scoffed, standing and walking to the fireplace, feeling the man's eyes follow her every move.

"I can attest that I have not."

Vienna glared into the flames, scoffing, "Then how else can it be explained that I think of you like I used to think of _him; _over me, under me, around me, inside me. I think of nothing but how you might taste, the feel of your skin, your hair. I get dizzy in your mere presence, I want nothing but you. The worst of it is that I want to be repulsed by this all and yet I am not, and that is a self-betrayal of the worst sort."

"I should say that it is perhaps a mystery of human nature; your heart is attached to one that is deceased, but your body has needs and the subconscious-"

"You're saying that I'm using you as a substitute?"

Lucius sighed, leaned back slightly, "So bluntly, yes."

"Than why just now?"

"Did you not have relations with-"

"Well of course, but I hardly enjoyed myself."

"You mean to say that you enjoy yourself with me?" he smirked.

"I didn't say that."

"But you did," he purred with confidence.

"Explain it to me, then," she growled, glaring at him; outwardly the picture of a challenge. But really she wasn't so sure if she should have given him such an opportunity; the man's silver tongue could make the biggest fallacy seem completely plausible.

"If you insist," he shrugged, standing like a predator readying himself to strike. "It's not all that difficult my dear; we have established that you are a sexual being with needs, and your former husband satisfied them, however poorly, for a time. We also established that you find yourself inexplicably attracted to my person; and when comparing your experiences with your former husband and myself, there was a great emphasis on the fact that you didn't enjoy yourself with him, implying that you had a rather opposite experience with me." He smiled in a way she could not read; it made her want to hit him.

_Again, the violence problem…_

"You're wrong," she shot back, tromping back to him until they were toe to toe. "You read far too much into the situation." But was he really? "You see sexual tension where there is none," or was there? "You make implications where there are none to be made," or perhaps he was stating the obvious. "You find attraction where attraction doesn't exist; you live in a fantasy world, Lucius Malfoy and I will not be a part of this. I will not be part of this when the shit hits the fan!" Who was living in the fantasy world, really?

"Finally, a muggle idiom I understand," he chuckled, leaning in close to her and cupping her face in his hands.

It wasn't a moment before Vienna pushed him away and put a chair between them, "Don't you dare think you can hypnotize me with your voice, your body, your…tricks! Should you even _think_ about using magic on me I'll—"

"You'll what?" he raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, "Do tell. I am so intrigued as to what little plan you have formulated to retaliate against me in my own house."

"I'll—" she shot a quick look behind her before darting to an open window and standing on the ledge, "I'll jump. I'll jump and let Rafael do the rest of the damage to you."

"Do you really think he cares about you?" The low blow. _Ouch._ Not that she gave two shits about the man, herself, but she had been his prized possession for so long; not having that protection hurt. "And what would your precious Severus think of this?"

"You do not have the right!" she snapped, jumping down from the ledge and to the floor, "You do not have the right to say his name you motherfucking, backstabbing traitor. You are the reason he is dead! You are the reason I am in this whole bloody mess! Dear God, if you'd never brought that snake man back we'd all be free. We'd be fine. I hate you!" By this time she was half-heartedly throwing punches at his chest and he was holding her calmly. A dozen or so punches in, she collapsed into him completely and just sobbed brokenly in his comforting embrace as before.

Or was that with Severus?

Or was that with Rafael?

Or was that with her brother?

How horrible was it that she was so emotionally unstable that she couldn't remember? How horrible was it that she could feel safe in the arms of the men she hated the most? How horrible was it that, at this moment, she realized it would be easier to just give in? It would be so much simpler, perhaps even more fulfilling, to give in to Lucius.

Maybe this man wasn't so bad; hopefully he wasn't. Her body was lusting after him like an animal in heat and she knew that with his never-ending presence combined with constant advances she would give in eventually anyway.

Cissy's husband or not.

Besides, her morals were shit by now anyhow. Who was she to care? And _when_ did she start caring? Did she care whose husband she was sleeping with when she was whoring around all those years? No. Then again, she'd been concentrating solely on Severus.

She'd _been_ concentrating solely on Severus up until now, actually.

Gods…what would he think? Did it even matter?

Vienna sniffled and calmed down, staring blankly into the darkness. _Oh Severus…_


End file.
